


Kiss Me and Tell Me That I'll See You Again

by probablytooobsessedwithfiction



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Humour, I don't really know what this is, M/M, Making Out, Making out in a closet, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Party, Romance, Seven Minutes In Heaven, Slow Burn, University AU, Victor is an exchange student, Why Did I Write This?, met before they met
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8622886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probablytooobsessedwithfiction/pseuds/probablytooobsessedwithfiction
Summary: “Seven minutes in heaven!” Phichit shouts from the other side of the door.When Yuuri is dragged to a party by his best friend Yuko, he doesn't want to be there- that is until he finds himself making out with someone. The only problem is that he has no idea who he's kissing.





	1. You Don't Know Me

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so here's the lay down:  
> I realised Rich Text was a thing after I originally posted this so I kept trying to update it but it made a new story??? (I still don't really know what happened).
> 
> So sorry this isn't a new chapter but it's the way I had originally intended to write this story and so it should sound and look better (dear god I hope it does or everything would have been for naught).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

It's a well-known fact that Katsuki Yuuri does _not_ like parties. So well-known in fact, that practically the whole student body, despite not particularly knowing him, knows he most likely won’t be seen at any party whatsoever. _So why,_ he wonders as he washes his hands, _am I at one?_

He dries his hands off and groans, the thumping bass music wasn’t even slightly muted by the door, as he hoped it might have been. He sighs and opens the door, preparing for the inevitable headache that was already beginning. Immediately, someone shoves past him and vomits in the toilet, someone following them in to pat their back soon after. Yuuri jumps in shock, turns away and swallows a gag of his own, hoping beyond all hope that this is the worst his night gets.

 _Why am I here?_ He asks again but he knows exactly why he’s there. _I am never letting Yuko convince me to do anything again,_ he laughs lightly to himself, _like that would ever happened, I mean, she got me here._

Yuuri looks down at exactly where _here_ is from his vantage point at the top of the stairs. The party was extremely hectic; bodies thrashing around in attempts of dancing, people making out in corners, people stripping and those who keep drinking whatever vile concoctions are in their cups.

 _I hate you Yuko,_ is all he can think.

Yuko is his best friend, practically his only friend, and she always knows what to say to get him to do what she wants. Once, she wanted to go to a movie when Yuuri wanted to study, she reminded him that one of his favourite actors was in said film and the next thing he knew he was sitting in the cinema seat with a small popcorn on his lap. This party was like that instance, but in this case, it took Yuuri a little convincing. She bursted into his dorm room with, “Yuuri, let’s go to Phichit’s party!”

He turned and rubbed his neck, saying, “Sorry, Yuko but I was going to study.”

“What? Yuuri, please!” She responded, dramatically falling onto her knees next to him. Yuuri fondly rolled his eyes. “Yuuri!” she begged, grabbing onto his arm.

He pulled his arm out of her hold.“Maybe, if you went on your own?”

“I can’t go on my own! That’s social suicide!”

“I think you’re overstating it.”

“Yuuri, please, it’ll only be a few hours then you can return to your boring study.”

Yuuri huffed and muttered, “Psychology isn’t boring.”

She held her hands up as if she were praying, “Please, Yuuri, I’m begging you! Takeshi’s going to be there and I need to be there too.”

Yuuri looked at her and smirked, “Ah, I see now.” Yuko was always talking about ‘how nice he was today’ ‘how funny this joke he said was’ or even in one instance, ‘how wonderful his laugh had been.’ Yuuri liked to tease her about the last one.

She’d met Takeshi during one of her classes (Yuuri couldn’t particularly remember which at the moment) and despite the fact that half of the time she was him he was immature and downright rude; she’d fallen for him. Now, she constantly tried to go where he went and talked to him every chance she got.

“Does that mean you’ll come?” Her eyes sparkled with hope.

“I really can’t Yuko, I’m behind” Her eyes became puppy dog eyes. “…And you know that I don’t like parties.”

“But Yuuri, you need to try new things!” She said for the billionth time, having said it every time she tried to convince Yuuri to do something.

He didn’t respond, focusing back on his notes.

Yuko sighed and slowly got to her feet, “Okay, fine I’ll go alone.” She brushed herself off and walked to the door, holding onto its frame before she turned and said,” But I did hear from the other Yuri that Viktor’s going to be there,”

This was her last resort, her last weapon.

Yuuri froze, a war of emotions and logic beginning within him. He began questioning the importance of schoolwork as hopes rushed through his head: _Maybe I’ll finally talk to him. Hey, you never know, he might actually ask me out. But school! School comes first! But Viktor might actually talk to me and I’ll actually talk to him! SCHOOL!_

Viktor Nikiforov was an exchange student from Russia and everyone, even those who were older and younger, were in love with him. In fact, Yuuri was fairly certain the Russian received a few love letters every day. Not to mention he was practically an internet celebrity- Yuuri had internet stalked him one night and made the shocking discovery that he had over twenty thousand followers on Instagram- so he probably had a lot more confessions than Yuuri would ever get in his entire life. And still, even with all this information, even with the knowledge that he would just be one among the masses, Yuuri had a crush on him.

“Yuuri?” Yuko broke his thoughts. A look of worry on her pale features.

“Only a few hours?” he asked.

She squealed.

So, she dragged him to Phichit’s frat house and by the time they arrived the party was in full swing; music loudly playing whatever song was popular, people dancing on furniture and people already passed out on the floor. Yuuri followed Yuko in and swerved occasionally when someone ran past them screaming, “I’m going surf down the banister!” (It actually happened surprisingly often). And while Yuko shouted at him to look for Takeshi, all he could do was search for Viktor Nikiforov. He saw all his friends but he never found Viktor himself.

“I thought you said Viktor was here,” he shouted into her ear. She shrugged. He frowned.

It took them an hour to find Takeshi and by that time they’d avoided many, _many_ horny drunk guys who were all trying to sleep any girl who entered their field of vision. When they finally found him, he announced that he couldn’t drink because he was the designated driver among his friends and Yuuri was so thankful he could have crushed him in a hug. Instead, he awkwardly leaned against the wall next to him and third wheeled the conversation between him and Yuko.

Again, he looked around but he still couldn’t find Viktor. He could feel everyone looking at him, “Why is _he_ here?” He could practically hear what they would says he next day.

“Did you _see_ him at Phichit’s party? He was so awkward.”

“Oh yeah! He’s so much nerdier in person!”

“And did you see how stupid he looked! It was hilarious!”

“Losers like him should just stay home”

He needed fresh air.

He shouted in Yuko and Takeshi’s general direction, “I’m going to the bathroom.” He left before he got any sort of response.

It's stupid really, his anxiety. It’s not like anyone cares about him, he can bet that half of them didn’t even know his name or would even notice his presence. Still though, he can’t help it. His brain is loud and whenever he goes anywhere public, he feels eyes on him, judgements flying off in whispers. It makes him vulnerable. It makes him nervous. He always has to calm himself and say, “It’s okay, they’ll probably forget by tomorrow.” But even so, he’d remember. He’d remember it all.

So here he is, extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable at the top of the banister examining the party he doesn’t want to be at. _I’ll find Yuko and go home_ , he thinks, _it was stupid to think Viktor would actually talk to me anyway. I mean, he’s not even here._

But as he reaches the wall he was previously been leaning on, they aren’t there. Yuuri starts panicking. He double checks that it was actually where they’d been by checking every other wall on the bottom floor of Phichit’s stupid frat house but he just can’t find them.

He tries to find them among the mesh of bodies that occupy the impromptu dancefloor but maybe it’s just that he squeezes through too many people to find them, or that he’s panicking too much to actually see and it’s far too warm to be natural on the dancefloor for him to form coherent thought.

He can’t help but remember Yuko’s words from earlier, _I can’t go on my own! That’s social suicide!_

He crawls off the dancefloor and attempts to find a non-alcoholic drink to clear his mind. Hopefully, stopping his panicked brain from making any more panicked assumptions like, _what if Yuko was waiting for this moment to ditch you? What if she only brought you here in case she needed to make Takeshi jealous and doesn’t want you here at all?_ He tries to calm himself with water but all they have is vodka. Having put some in his cup, he takes a sip and promptly spits it out. “Don’t like vodka?” someone asks, he looks up.

“Oh, hey Phichit,” he shouts over the music. Phichit is the only other person Yuuri might consider a friend.

He’d met him at the beginning of the year when he’d first gone to the university’s skating rink. To Yuuri’s surprise, they both did figure skating and they'd bonded quickly due to that. Sadly, Phichit rarely ever had time to go skating and that left Yuuri to go alone.

But that wasn’t too bad. After all, he’d discovered Viktor Nikiforov that way.

“What?”

“Hey!”

“Hey!” Phichit slurs. “I saw you and was like, ‘Whaaaaat? Yuuri’s here?’ It was like, ‘whoa’,” he takes a photo of Yuuri.

“Yeah!” he blinks at the flash. “Hey! Have you seen Yuko around?”

Phichit shakes his head roughly, picking up a cup and pouring a bit of every different bottle on the table. “Not recently!” He hiccups, giggling at his hiccup like an anime schoolgirl.

“Great,” Yuuri mumbles to himself. “Maybe you should stop drinking!” he shouts.

Phichit just laughs at him. “So hey, I was, I was wondering…” Phichit giggles again. “Are the rumours true?”

Yuuri raises an eyebrow, “What rumours?”

“Yes or no, Yuuri!”

“Yes?” Yuuri answers, his reply more of a question than a statement.

Phichit positively beams. “Come with me!” Phichit grabs his hand tightly and leads him through throngs of people to a small door by the entrance. “Get in!”

“Excuse me?” Yuuri gasps, Phichit responds by shoving him into the room.

Despite the fact that it's pitch black, Yuuri can tell it's a small room filled with coats. _The coat closet?_ Yuuri thinks, shocked, but at the same time thankful that he can’t smell any vomit. Yuuri turns back towards the door just as he hears the _click_ of the lock being turned. He feels his stomach drop, “Phichit! Let me out, this isn’t funny!”

“I’ll be back! Don’t get any ideas!” he hears Phichit’s surprisingly loud footsteps stomp away from the door, until all he can hear is the muffled song playing in the foyer.

This is officially the worst night of his life, he realises, sliding down against the door. He hates Yuko, he’ll never let her talk him into anything again. He feels tears well up in his eyes, he just wants to go _home_ but here he is, stuck in a stupid coat closet for god knows how long.  He brings his knees up, interlocking his arms and burying his head into them.

A few minutes later Yuuri hears the lock being undone again and he stands up. The door flies open quickly as another person is shoved into the room, knocking Yuuri to the floor. The door shuts just as fast as it was opened. “Sorry,” he hears as the other person scrambles to get off him. _Male,_ Yuuri thinks in response to their low and raspy voice, indistinct.

“It’s okay,” Yuuri mumbles.

“Seven minutes in heaven!” Phichit shouts from the other side of the door. “No talking, just kissing!”

“Phichit!” The Other Guy shouts.

“Oh and the light switch is on this side, so don’t try look for it.”

“Phichit! It’s not funny!” Yuuri shouts.

“Less talking more kissing~”

Yuuri gives up, all hope of Phichit opening the door is lost and he feels his way to the end of the closet- which isn’t too far- and sits against the back wall.

After what feels like a long while of awkward silence, the Other Guy sighs, his voice getting less muffled as he turns. “He’s gotta be drunk.”

“Has he done this before when he was drunk?” Yuuri timidly says, sitting down dejectedly.

“I wouldn’t know, only come to these sorts of things now and again,” The Other Guy says. Yuuri hears his footsteps coming closer.

“Oh, I don’t really go these things either,” Yuuri practically squeaks as the Other Guy sits down next to him, he hates how uncomfortable he feels.

“I don’t hear kissing!” Phichit shouts.

“You probably can’t hear anything over the music!” The Other Guy shouts.

“I really want to go home,” Yuuri mumbles under his breath.

“I _was_ heading home,” the other guy hums, Yuuri didn’t think he’d said it loud enough for the Other Guy to have heard, “but Phichit saw me leaving and dragged me here.”

They sit in silence. Yuuri isn’t sure if he should say anything.

“You’re a guy, right?” The Other Guy asks, his voice shocking Yuuri slightly.

“Yeah, you?” he kind of hates how he actually asks him, of course he's a guy.

“Yeah. Are you attracted to guys?”

Yuuri hesitates, he’s bisexual but he wonders if he should take the time to explain it. “Well,” He begins but then decides against it, “yes. Are you?”

“Yes.”

They sit in silence again, Yuuri is pretty sure Phichit walked away at some point. Either way, all Yuuri can hear is the bass line of whatever pop song Phichit has on through the door.

“So do you want to kiss, then?” the other guy suggests.

Yuuri jumps. “What!? You can’t be serious!”

“Of course.”

He sounds so certain. Yuuri pauses, “You want to kiss me?”

There’s a beat of silence. “You couldn’t see but I nodded.”

“You’re not drunk, are you?”

“I had a drink or two a few hours ago… so probably not.”

Yuuri hesitates. He doesn’t know this person, should he just kiss a stranger? Yuko was always telling him he should try new things but isn’t this _too_ new? He shouldn’t just go around doing stupid things like this…

But what if he enjoys it?

“Okay, but only one kiss. And if I don’t like it, we stop, is that okay?” Yuuri agrees, standing.

“Okay,” the Other Guy says as Yuuri presumes he stands.

Yuuri feels the other guy’s arms fly out, one arm hitting his stomach, the other flinging dangerously close to knocking his glasses off his head. _My glasses!_ He thinks and takes them off quickly, tucking them into his back pocket.

Yuuri takes the other guy’s hands in his own and brings them up to his chin. The Other Guy feels around his face. Yuuri can feel the moment he starts to lean in. Yuuri hasn’t been kissed that much in his life to know exactly how to prepare himself for an oncoming kiss. _How far do you part your lips?_ He wonders. _Do I tilt my head? Does he? Does he know all this? How many times has he been kissed?_

The Other Guy kisses the tip of Yuuri’s nose and Yuuri opens his eyes, which he doesn’t realise he closed.  After he got over his shock he starts laughing, “You hit my nose,” he says once he calms down.

The Other Guy ( _I have_ got _to think of something else to call him,_ Yuuri thinks) mutters an embarrassed, “Oh. Sorry.” Pulling his lips off his nose.

Yuuri laughs a little more, “It’s okay.”

“You have a pretty laugh,” the Other Guy breaths, his breath on Yuuri’s lips.

His lips touch his. It’s a soft kiss, his kisser’s lips barely pressed against his. Yet despite this, Yuuri feels a shiver run across his lips, almost like a spark, which he finds…he enjoys. And he doesn’t know why, nothing’s happening, they’re barely even kissing but Yuuri feels a strange craving to make the kiss deeper and run his kisser’s hair through his fingers. Just as Yuuri has this revelation, his kisser pulls away, “Was that okay?”

Yuuri would insist in this moment that he did _not_ , in fact, pull his kisser’s lips back onto his immediately; of course, he’d be sorely lying.

 His kisser’s lips are back on his and Yuuri does not let this opportunity go to waste, running his hands down his face until one hand cradles the back of his neck and the other is running through his silky hair. The kiss is deeper, Yuuri makes sure of that, tilting his face so his nose won’t ruin anything (god, did he hate his nose during this kiss).  His kisser doesn’t seem to complain, though, his hand and trails Yuuri’s spine until they’re wrapped around his waist.

Yuuri can smell his sandalwood cologne and all but hums. His lips taste very faintly of beer and Yuuri thanks whatever higher power that it's barely even there and he isn’t just kissing some drunk weirdo Phichit had shoved him into a closet with.

When they pull away, they only do so briefly for breathing’s sake, going back to kissing after having a few short breaths.

Yuuri is melting and soaring and dying and living all at the same time and he _loves_ it. His kisser is so warm and so good at kissing, Yuuri thanks Phichit at the back of his mind. His and Yuuri’s lips seem to work in tandem like extremely heated and messy clockwork, moving and tilting simultaneously. Yuuri wonders if his kisser’s heart is beating as fast as his own, a loud continuous thump in his ears which seems to be a sort of reminder that he is, in fact, alive and he isn’t actually dreaming.

Somewhere between his partner’s tongue slipping into his mouth and Yuuri deciding to stand on his tiptoes, Yuuri moans from somewhere at the back of his throat and he’s fairly certain his heart stops beating. His kisser grins into the kiss and releases a moan of his own; and if Yuuri’s heart had stopped beating before it beats faster than it ever has before.

After this the boundaries between them seem to fall away completely, his kisser’s hands roaming until they reach the hem of Yuuri’s shirt. Warm hands snake up his stomach and rest at his heart before they continue moving around. “Hmm, muscular,” His kisser mumbles into Yuuri’s lips. Yuuri shivers under his touch, his hands burning everywhere they touch. “You can do it too, you know.”

Yuuri pulls away, “Huh?”

His kisser laughs lightly, gently taking Yuuri’s hand in his own and bringing it under his shirt. He guides Yuuri’s hand around his stomach- Yuuri tries not to freak out at how muscular he is- and eventually places his hand on his heart which, much like Yuuri’s, is beating much faster than it ought to be. “Your heart’s beating so fast,” Yuuri murmurs.

“Yours too,” His kisser responds, hands returning to Yuuri’s chest.

Soon he’s kissing Yuuri’s collar bone and up his neck. “Did you feel the spark too?” Yuuri asks, gulping, ignoring the obvious cheesiness of the question. The kisses are intoxicating and Yuuri attempts to pretend that they're not affecting him as much as they are.

He nods into Yuuri’s neck, “By the first kiss, if you could even call it a kiss.”

Yuuri breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

He brings his kisser’s face up, lifting his chin and kissing him again. This time his hands wrap around his waist and his kisser’s hands find their way through his hair. His lips complain allthewhile and Yuuri had even thought about the possibility of them swelling.

They pull apart instantaneously, their chest touching and their breaths mingling. What Yuuri wouldn’t give to see his face in that moment and find out who he was. As if he were reading his mind his partner asked softly, “W-who are you?”

Yuuri laughs internally, like he’d know who he actually was. “I don’t think you’d know. What about you? Who are you?”

He feels his partner frown. “I think I’d know you,” he mumbles, but even as he says it it’s almost as if he doesn’t agree with his own statement.

Yuuri drops to his heels, his feet aching.

His partner laughs, “You’re quite short, aren’t you?”

“You’re only slightly taller than me,” Yuuri huffs.

His partner stops laughing and takes Yuuri’s chin with his hand. “It’ll help me find you,” he purrs.

“How?”

“Tell me your name.”

“My name?”

“Yeah.”

“M-my name is-“

Before he even knows what’s happening, the door is opening and Yuuri’s being dragged away. His eyes snap open in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his partner’s face but it’s too dark in the closet and they’ve apparently reached the glow stick phase of the party that mean all the lights have to be off.

Yuuri is dragged through the ground floor until he’s on the other side of the house. “Stay here~” some blur he can only assume is Phichit coos.

“Sure,” Yuuri says absentmindedly touching his swollen lips as if checking to see if what had actually happened isn’t just some dream. He puts on his glasses.

Phichit waves before making his way back to what Yuuri assumes was the coat closet.

He touches his lips once more before wandering away, bumping into people mindlessly and mumbling a panicked, “Sorry!” to anyone he accidentally shoulders or elbows. He’s still on a high after kissing… that guy.

He touches his lips and smiles to himself. He doesn’t know anything about the guy but he wants to kiss him again. He wants to see him again. He wants him to find him. He wants to tell him his name. He runs- or, at least, tries to- in the direction of the closet. Phichit isn’t outside so he cautiously opens the door, throwing a shy, “Hello?”

He’s met with silence so he tries again, only to be met with the same response. He wanders out glumly, eyes glued to the floor. He feels a tap on his shoulder and almost headbutts Yuko. “Where have you been?!” she screams.

“I went to the bathroom!” he shouts back, not sure if she heard him over the music.

“Did you have trouble or something? You were gone for ages!”

“I wasn’t gone that long!” As she loudly explains how worried she was, Yuuri looks over her shoulder to see Takeshi by the door, waiting patiently.

She follows his eyes, “Oh yeah! I’m going home with Takeshi, is that okay?”

“Yeah! I’m going to stay a bit longer, I think!” Yuko overdramatically gasps and clutches her chest, before a smile breaks out on her face.

Yuuri assumes she says, “Have fun!”

He sees her take Takeshi’s hand and walk out the door.

Yuuri touches his lips once more and confidently heads out to find his kisser. But as he turns, he’s met with the unexpected sight of messy silver hair, starry blue eyes and a dazzling smile; Viktor Nikiforov is actually at the party, leaning against a wall, animatedly trying to talk to his friends.

Never before has the sight Viktor made him feel guilty or sick to his stomach. He feels weird, like he’s cheated on him - despite the fact that they're not dating and Viktor probably doesn't even know who he is. His stomach drops heavily. Suddenly, Yuuri’s bravado and inspiration is gone and all he feels is a sick shame that’s rooted in his stomach. He doesn’t even know why; Viktor probably doesn’t even know who he is.

He turns and leaves, deciding to save his search for his partner when Viktor isn’t around to remind him of the odd sickness in his stomach. Despite this disgusting feeling, he’s hopeful. He’ll find _him,_ he knows he will, especially when he leaves him blushing and excited for their next meeting. Yuuri promises himself that he’ll find the man he kissed that night, at whatever cost.

On the other side of the room, gesturing wildly with his hands, Viktor promises himself the same thing.


	2. La Vie En Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He thinks about how the kissing was at Phichit’s frat house, at Phichit’s party and how the kissing itself was Phichit’s scheme.
> 
> “I need to talk to Phichit,” he announces to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I'm back! Sorry it took so long to write this chapter! I just wanted to make sure I didn't have as many problems as last time.
> 
> Anyway! Thank you for the lovely comments, the bookmarks and the kudos, it means so much to me that you guys are enjoy this story!
> 
> Enjoy!

When Yuuri wakes up in his dorm room the next morning- sunlight peeking through the beige curtains, a peaceful stillness of mid-morning and birds chirping far off in the distance- he can still feel the kisses on his lips. He turns, the covers resting on his back and he touches his lips softly, revelling in the feeling of warmth he gets when he can still feel the ghost of his kisser’s breath on his.

_ Tell me your name. _

Yuuri looks to see his dorm room as empty as it always is, dust settling around the empty bed frame that would be his roommate’s if he had one. He can’t say he dislikes the emptiness of his room, it’s always peacefully quiet and he’s never bothered by anyone except Yuko and maybe Phichit, but he can’t say he likes it either; sometimes the quiet is suffocating. Especially now, that he has someone he wants with him.

_ I should have asked him for his name,  _ Yuuri thinks.  _ He probably would have told me immediately. _

Yuuri still hates himself for stuttering, he should have just said his own name outright. If he could go back, he would have shouted his name before Phichit ever had a chance to take him away.

He closes his eyes and tries to remember his kisser: a low voice (unidentifiable), silky hair (he was too busy kissing him to register anything else about it) and an extremely muscular body (he has seen many,  _ many _ people work out on the campus). He tries to narrow down the list; for one thing, he knows he didn’t kiss Nishigori- that at least is a comfort- and it wasn’t Phichit…

_ I need to meet more people _ , Yuuri realises.

He drags himself out of bed as he tries to remember anything else about his kisser. Of course, there’s not much else he can take out of their time together except for the big bold fact that he was  _ a really good kisser. _

_ It’s not like I can go around kissing people,  _ Yuuri thinks, blushing at the thought as he trudges out of bed; half-heartedly trying to ignore how slim his chances of finding his kisser are.

It’s only when he’s pulling on a black shirt and a pair of jeans that he thinks about how the kissing was at  _ Phichit’s  _ frat house, at  _ Phichit’s  _ party and how the kissing itself was  _ Phichit’s  _ scheme.

“I need to talk to Phichit,” he announces to himself and pulls on a pair of sneakers as fast as possible, wrapping a blue scarf around his neck and all but runs out the door.

Once he leaves his dorm he realises just how cold it is, wrapping his arms around himself in the dark blue sweater he thought would be warm enough. The campus is pretty, though, the trees the shades of sunset; leaves ranging from deep red to bright yellow, some of which pepper the floor like confetti and he smiles into his scarf; he loves autumn. It’s not cold enough yet for snow or ice and he’s thankful that he doesn’t chance the risk of slipping on his way to Phichit’s.

He turns the corner to see an obnoxious row of houses down the road and despite his distaste for extravagantly old frat houses such as Phichit’s, he appreciates the somewhat idyllic beauty it carries. Most of them are the same, old houses with old white paned windows, old brick setting, old rounded doorway with windows in the door and old white pillars that mark the entryway. Unlike most of them, though, Phichit’s frat house is marked with large ivy vines that snake up towards the roof.

As he walks up to the door he tries to structure what he’ll say. Things such as, “Hey Phichit, you made me kiss this guy and I really liked it, so could you maybe tell me who it was so I can kiss him more?” don’t really sound right while, “Excuse me Phichit, but could you perhaps inform me on the topic of who I kissed last night?” sounds like an essay.

He takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell, deciding to settle on, “Hey Phichit, do you remember how last night you made me kiss someone? Could you tell me who it was?”

When someone else answers the door, it throws him off. It shouldn’t though because it’s Leo Da La Iglesia and he’s just another member of Phichit’s frat house. Still, when he says, “Is Phichit there?” his voice comes out strangled.

Leo smiles easily and steps aside, allowing Yuuri to step in, “He’s just inside, I’ll go get him.”

Leo is a friend of Phichit’s and thus, by extension, an acquaintance of Yuuri’s. Yuuri doesn’t know too much about him, except that he’s Mexican-American and his boyfriend is in the dorm room across from his.

“You’re Yuuri right?” Leo calls as he walks into their living room, leaving Yuuri to awkwardly stand in the centre of the foyer.

“Yeah,” Yuuri replies, looking around. The house is messier than usual: empty and partially full cups litter the floor, people are passed out on various pieces of furniture and Yuuri is fairly certain he can hear someone vomiting from upstairs.

Leo appears in the doorway and gestures that Yuuri join him. So, he does, until they reach an old suede couch. There lies Phichit, lying face first on one of the worn out grey pillows, still sleeping softly. Leo crouches down and shakes his arm lightly. Phichit groans and changes position so that his back now faces them. Leo groans, “Phichit… come on.”

Phichit doesn’t move and Yuuri is sure he’s gone back to sleep.

“Yuuri’s come to see you,” Leo offers.

Phichit turns over slowly as if he doesn’t believe Leo’s claim and Leo takes it as his sign to leave, Yuuri nods his head as thank you while Leo smiles and wishes him luck because “He probably has the worst hangover in history.”

Yuuri crouches down and Phichit smiles at him tiredly. “Good morning,” Yuuri says.

Phichit moans and puts a pillow on his face, “Why are you being so loud when it’s so early?”

Yuuri checks his phone for the time and laughs lightly, “It’s almost midday.”

Phichit groans, letting the hands that were holding the pillow fall so one hand trails off the side of the couch and the other is stuffed between his waist and the couch “Do you want me to get you some water?” Yuuri offers.

Phichit nods, the pillow wobbling with every move. Yuuri stands and strolls towards the kitchen, stepping over anything or any _ one  _ who might be on the floor.

As Yuuri gets the glass of water, he tries to calm himself so he can be brave enough to address the topic of his kisser with Phichit. He searches through the cupboards until he finds a relatively clean glass, and fills it with water; he takes a deep breath and goes over his words again.  To his surprise, after a few deep breaths and a splash of water, he finds he can ask.

When he comes back Phichit is sitting up, looking far worse than he had lying down. His hair looks like a bird’s nest, he has dark blue bags under his eyes and his eyes are red. He winces at Yuuri’s footsteps but takes the glass of water gratefully. “Can you close the curtains? It’s too bright…”

Yuuri turns to find that the curtains… are already closed. He turns back to Phichit as he finishes the glass of water and shrugs. “Sorry,” he whispers.

Leo comes back into the room and stands next to Yuuri. He lifts up a small bottle in his hands and shakes it a few times, so the contents rattle. Phichit whimpers and Leo gives a grin, “Serves you right for drinking so much. Here you go.” He offers him a painkiller from the bottle.

“Thank you~” Phichit coos weakly as Leo saunters out of the room.

“Why am I helping you and not him?” Yuuri complains, mostly to himself.

Almost in response, a loud, “Alright everybody, out!” comes from the foyer. Soon followed by the sound of the front door opening and a loud collective moan.

Leo pokes his head through the doorway. “Everyone’s gone but I expect you to clean up, Phichit. I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.”

Yuuri smiles in response.  _ Is that the right thing to do?  _ He thinks before he lets out a strained, “Thanks.”

Phichit ‘tsks’ and mumbles, “Tells me off for drinking but stashes his boyfriend in his room.”

Yuuri turns his attention back to Phichit, ignoring his last comment and asking, “How are you feeling?”

“Slightly better,” He replies meekly.

“That’s good at least.”

“Yeah.”

Yuuri begins to feel nerves in his stomach, once again losing any and all confidence he had gained.  _ How do you start up a conversation about who your friend told you to make out with in a closet? _

“So,” Yuuri begins, then stops.

“So…” Phichit croaks.

“I was wondering.”

“You were wondering?”

Yuuri takes a deep breath and blurts, “I was wondering if you remembered anything from last night?”

“Yeah, but not all of it. I-It’s a little fuzzy.”

“O-oh, um…”

Phichit groans, bringing a hand to his face and falling against the back of the couch. “Tell me what I did,” He takes the hand away from his face. “It wasn’t bad, was it?”

“Well…” Yuuri murmurs scratching the back of his neck.

“Just tell me, get it over with.”

Yuuri takes another deep breath and sits next Phichit on the couch. “So, last night, I went to your party with Yuko, but I lost her and when I ran into you I asked you if you’d seen her and you said, ‘No’… Ring any bells?”

“No.”

“Okay,” Yuuri says. “Then you asked me ‘if the rumours were true?’”

“What? What rumours?”

Yuuri shrugs worry bubbling in his stomach, he had been so confident about Phichit  _ remembering.  _ “And when I said, ‘Yes’ you forced me into your coat closet.”

Phichit facepalms and Yuuri almost lets himself believe that Phichit remembers.

“You came back a little later and put someone else in the closet with me. I was wondering if you remembered who that was?”

“Yuuri, I’m sorry but I don’t. I don’t even remember you being there.”

“Oh…”

“Yuuri, I’m so sorry! Forgive me!” Phichit says somewhat softly.

“It’s fine.”

“No! It’s not! I’ll ask around and see if anyone remembers anything.”

“You don’t have to!”

“No, no, I will,” he assures, pulling out his phone.

“No, really.”

But Phichit’s got his phone out and Yuuri knows that he’s practically as good as gone- hangover or no hangover. Yuuri sighs and utters a meek, “Goodbye,” deciding to leave it at that and go, too tired and disappointed to think of anything else to say.

He walks out of the house and calls another, “Bye,” up the stairs for Leo. He doesn’t wait for a response.

He doesn’t want to think about anything, not trusting himself to come up with someway to  _ not  _ feel defeated somehow. He hasn’t particularly tried too hard to meet his kisser but asking Phichit seemed like the only way he could’ve found out who he was. He’s mad at Phichit for being so drunk and having forgotten and in some weird twisted way he’s mad that he even started this whole issue. But mostly, he’s mad at himself for being so hung up on some guy, he knows it’s probably just because he hasn’t been kissed in a while but at the same time the kiss just felt so  _ right.  _

He opens the door and walks out, too lost in thought to look around and runs into something- some _ one.  _ “S-sorry!” He apologises automatically as he steps back.

“It’s fine,” he hears the stranger say. He looks up and almost has a heart attack, he (literally) ran straight into Viktor Nikiforov. “Hey, you’re Katsuki Yuuri, right?”

Yuuri is frozen.  _ I am in the presence of Viktor Nikiforov,  _ is all he can think.  _ Look at him, he’s so pretty; Look at his eyes, I never knew how blue his eyes are. Wow. Can I just stand here for a while?   _ Viktor tilts his head when Yuuri doesn’t answer.  _ Crap, he asked a question. What do I say? Should I ask him to repeat it? No, it’ll be too obvious I wasn’t paying attention.  _ So, he does what he always does when he doesn’t hear a question, he croaks out a, “Yes.”

Viktor’s face breaks out into a smile, he holds his hand out and when Yuuri goes to shake his hand, he clasps his other hand on Yuuri’s and shakes enthusiastically.  _ I guess I said the right thing,  _ Yuuri thinks before he hears, “You’re a friend of Phichit’s, I’ve seen you two around the rink.”

Yuuri’s eyes widen.  _ He’s-He’s seen me skate? When?... What did he think? Was I good? What do I say in response to that?... Thanks? No stop just- I don’t know- say something! _ “U-uh, yes.”

“Is all you can say yes?” Viktor asks jokingly and Yuuri mentally slaps himself, he tries to laugh but it comes out somewhat awkward. “Were you just visiting Phichit?” He asks, turning serious and finally letting go of his hand.

“Yeah,” Yuuri begins, mentally patting himself on the back for the not using ‘yes’, “He’s not very responsive.”

“Well considering how drunk he was, I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Yuuri looks up at him and something seems familiar about the way he sighs in resignation. Yuuri shakes his head,  _ No there isn’t, this is the first time you’ve talked to him _ .

“Can I ask what you were talking to him about?”

“SCHOOL!” Yuuri blurts loudly before he can stop himself, wishing his cheeks could  _ stop being so damn warm.  _ “A-ah, you see, we have a class together and I-I wanted his help with something.”

“Ah. I was going to ask him something about the party.”

“Oh, um, he doesn’t really remember anything.”

“Really?” He asks before he places his hand on his forehead and his brows furrow.

Yuuri’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out seeing a text from Yuko saying:  _ Cld u get me a coffee? Plz? _

It buzzes again a second later with another text from Yuko.

_ And a coat or something? Still in last night’s dress ;) _

“T.M.I,” he mumbles to himself. He looks back up at Viktor. “I need to go, nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too,” Viktor Nikiforov mumbles, sitting down on the steps in front of the house as Yuuri rushes past him.

_ Where do I meet you?  _ Yuuri texts Yuko

_ Benches by the pitch?  _ Yuko replies a moment later, referring the small park-like area next to the campus’s soccer pitch.

_ See you in 15 mins. _

* * *

 

Yuuri meets her on a bench by the soccer field with a brown overcoat his mother forced him to take in one hand and a cappuccino he got from the campus coffee shop in the other. When she spots him she smiles and hugs him, putting the coat on and drinking the coffee like she hasn’t had anything to drink in days. “Thank you,” she says once she’s finished it, plopping down onto the bench with a satisfied noise. 

He sits next to her as she snuggles into the coat. “It’s so  _ warm,  _ Yuuri! When and where did you get it?”

“My mum got it for me.”

“I  _ need  _ to meet your mum,” she announces, pushing her nose into the coat’s collar.

“ _ Anyway _ , what happened last night?” Yuuri asks suggestively.

“Well,” Yuko begins as she pulls her face out from the coat, “once you left, we started dancing and it got kind of heated…”

“Oo,” Yuuri supplies and Yuko slaps him playfully with a smile on her face.

“Not like that!” she begins with a light laugh. “We just started kissing and I kind of told him I had a crush on him?”

“What did he say?”

“’I have a crush on you too’ and I suggested we ‘get out of here’ and I ran into you on my way out. And Yuuri, when we got to his place-“

“Stop! Stop!” Yuuri laughs, shaking his hands in her face. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

Yuko laughs and then abruptly stops, looking at him with a questioning gaze and pulling his hands down so she can look straight at him. “I never found out, what happened to you?”

“Oh, well…” He starts, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well? Didn’t you just go to the bathroom?”

“I did but then-“

“Then?” she gasps. “What did you do? Tell me!”

“I was looking for you and I ran into Phichit…”

“Yes? And?”

“And he shoved me into a closet,” He sees her brow furrow and her fists clench. He hurries to calm her down. “But it’s fine! He shoved someone else in and announced it was ‘Seven minutes in Heaven’ and one thing led to another.”

“Oh. My. God! Oh my GOD! Yuuri!” She stands, taking his hands in hers. “You made out with someone at a party!”

He awkwardly laughs and blushes under her excited stare.

“Who was it?” She asks.

“That’s the thing... I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

He shrugs, “It was dark.”

“So, you made out with a stranger you didn’t know? That’s pretty extreme, even by normal standards,” she comments, sitting down.

“Yeah,” he steels himself. “Now, I know this might sound cheesy but I felt a-a spark when I kissed him and I don’t know, I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Yuuri!” She hugs him after a moment, bringing her head to his chest. “You’re adorable!”

“I-I’m being serious!”

“I know,” she pulls him away and looks into his eyes with a confident smile. “I’m going to help you find him!”

“What?”

“Yeah! Together, we’ll find your Mystery Man!”

Yuuri remembers how he promised himself that he would never go along with any more Yuko’s schemes but her eyes are alight with excitement and the last time he went along, it worked out in his favour. “Fine. Just don’t drag anyone else in, please,” Yuuri concedes, picturing Nishigori asking people if they made out with anyone at Phichit’s party as they pass.

“Of course not!”

He sighs in relief and rests his head on the bench.

“So… have you thought about who it might be?” Yuko asks after a while.

“Not really,” Yuuri admits.

“You don’t think… You don’t think it could have been Viktor? I mean, I saw him just a little while after you left  _ and  _ he went missing for a bit after a little while.”

“Don’t even give me hope, Yuko. We couldn’t find him at the beginning of the party so you just probably didn’t see him. You were probably too preoccupied with kissing Nishigori to notice.”

She slaps him playfully again and then rests her head back too. “It’d be funny if it were Viktor, though,” she mutters.

“Yeah, yeah it would be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the chapter, sorry it's a little shorter!
> 
> The song this chapter was named after is called La Vie En Rose by Edith Piaf and I used it mainly for the beginning. I don't know why I decided to use old songs for the titles of everything (except the actual story title???) but I might put all the songs on a playlist at some stage.
> 
> ALSO EPISODE 10!! BIGGEST PLOT TWIST IN HISTORY HONESTLY. (I couldn't help but feel it sort of tied into this story, like how Viktor and Yuuri meet at a party with a bunch of other skaters but then can't find each other again. Lol maybe its just me)
> 
> If you to scream about Yuri!!! on ICE with me, my tumblr is fandompowerpoints.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it! I'll be updating soon! (ngl I am actually really excited to write the next chapter). Until then!


	3. I Fall To Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So,” Viktor announces, “there’s been a rumour going around that I’m in love with someone...it’s true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey guys! Here it is on New Year's too! So woo! Cus' let's be honest I didn't think it would actually be ready for today. 
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoy it and I'm so sorry if it's terrible or awkward (I tried to avoid awkward interactions but they might still occur)
> 
> ENJOY!

The following Monday comes around and as the day goes by Yuuri realises something feels… _odd._ He can’t really put words to it but something feels wrong or out of place. Yet the day passes like any other ordinary Monday. Yuuri can’t put a finger on it until he’s sitting in the cafeteria in the early afternoon with Phichit opposite him, reciting the daily gossip. _Today_ , Yuuri realises, _should have been different, I_ kissed _someone on the weekend but it hasn’t changed anything._

“- who’s sort of a loner? Well, it turns out he knows the other Yuri from somewhere and now they’re friends isn’t that weird?” Phichit recounts, shoving a spoon of rice into his mouth.

“Huh? Really?” Yuuri says half-heartedly, one hand holding his head as the other draws lazy circles into the table. Honestly, he’s trying to pay attention to Phichit but he’s just so enthusiastic and Yuuri can barely stand his own disappointment at this stage.

“Yeah! It was a summer camp or something. I haven’t talked to the other Yuri about it though, so it might not be accurate. Ugh, can’t this school afford chopsticks? Spoons just-“

As Phichit prattles on, Yuuri can’t help but be distracted by his thoughts. _Maybe I’d been hoping someone would be asking about me, that someone would be asking about a guy they’d kissed at Phichit’s party_. If he’s being honest with himself, he’d been hoping that that someone would be Viktor, especially after Yuko told him about his disappearance midway through the night. He feels warm and bubbly inside when he thinks about it, but then again, he always feels that way when he thinks about Viktor.

“Sorry to interrupt!” Yuko apologises as she takes the seat next to Phichit. “Yuuri, you need to hear this!”

Yuuri sits up as Phichit gushes, “Is it the thing about Viktor? I was just about to tell him.”

“What about Viktor?” Yuuri leans towards him.

“Well, it’s just that there’s been a rumour going around-“ Phichit begins but then is promptly interrupted.

“And we didn’t want you to hear from anyone else-“ Yuko continues. 

“It could be false, Viktor hasn’t confirmed it-“

“Basically…” Yuko sighs, “people have been saying that Viktor’s in love.”

Yuuri’s stomach drops and a wave of disappointed sadness drops on him. But before he thinks about it too hard, he remembers that it’s just a rumour. Viktor hasn’t confirmed it, he hasn’t said it’s true… He hasn’t said it’s not true either. That thought sets Yuuri on edge and suddenly the thought of the crowded cafeteria has him feeling uncomfortable.

“Yuuri, are you okay?” Phichit asks worry plastered on his face, snapping Yuuri back to reality.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Yuuri tries to say casually but sounding more pressed, “I’m going to go back to my room, okay?”

“Okay, we’ll catch up with you later,” Yuko speaks softly, a look of apology in her eyes.

Yuuri nods, thanking god that he found friends like her and Phichit while he stands up.

Just as he does, the cafeteria door swings open and none other than Viktor Nikiforov strolls in, smile wide on his face. The whole cafeteria, having also heard the rumour, goes quiet and Yuuri sits down; as much as he’d like to be alone in this exact moment, he doesn’t want to be the centre of attention as he hobbles out of the cafeteria. Viktor, seemingly oblivious to the silence collects a plate of food, before going to sit down next to his friends: the Other Yuri and Christophe Giacometti. Both of whom are slightly odd, one especially angry and the other especially flirtatious; Yuuri shivers at the thought that he might have made out with Chris.

It’s then that Viktor notices everyone’s silence and stares directed at him. He looks confused as he whispers an unheard question to his friends. Chris leans over and answers in another unheard whisper and Viktor breaks out into a loud laugh that reverberates around the room.

He stands up dramatically, his chair’s loud scrape leaving everyone wincing. “So,” Viktor addresses the cafeteria, “there’s been a rumour going around that I’m in love with someone…”

Despite the fact that it’s been silent this whole time, Yuuri feels the room go tense and somehow, more silent. Yuuri closes his eyes. _Shut up! Don’t say anything, please,_ Yuuri thinks, attempting to communicate telepathically with Viktor. He doesn’t know if he can handle finding out the truth behind this rumour. _Just don’t say anything, sit down. I’m begging you._

“Well,” Viktor smiles before announcing, “it’s true.”

With those two words, the whole cafeteria descends into chaos. Everyone seems to be screaming questions along the lines of, “What? When? How? WHO?”

Viktor just laughs once more and attempts to say, “It’s a secret!” with a wink as the cafeteria keeps shouting over him.

To Yuuri, the world seems to go still and quiet and once again the feeling of oddness that had been following him around all day begins again. He kind of wishes no one told him because as soon as Viktor spoke any hope or warmth Yuuri felt inside his stomach about the mere thought of Viktor being his kisser vanished. And it feels like shit.

Yuuri can’t help but feel like this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. But as soon as that thought crosses his mind, he feels stupid for thinking it and wishes he wasn’t so naïve to think that this was all some story where he’d miraculously get the guy in the end. Maybe Yuuri thought he deserved Viktor, maybe he thought he deserved something he wanted, but now he doesn’t; he’s simply a nerdy hermit and he should accept that. What hurts the most, though, is how Yuuri _knows_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that Viktor could be in love with anybody but it would never, never be him.

Yuuri can’t take it anymore and he forces himself past the clamouring audience Viktor has created. If he feels Viktor’s eyes on him as he shoves his way through the crowd he knows he’s imagining it.

***

Despite everything telling him otherwise, Yuuri decides to leave his room. He’s spent far too long crying out frustrated tears than he would have ever wanted; all while repeating the line, “He’s just a crush, it’s nothing! Stop fucking crying!” over and over again far too often. 

So, when he gets sick of being depressed and when he gets sick of wallowing, he sits up and brushes the tears away roughly, before stalking over to his cupboard and digging through for his skates. He hopes, as he walks to the skating rink, that all the frustrated and sad energy becomes something else when he gets on the ice.

With puffy eyes and a snotty nose, Yuuri ties on his skates carefully and steps onto the ice. He finds that if he ignores his occasional sniffing and just skates lazy circles his mind goes quiet and he can find peace.

He’s not surprised to find the rink empty because it pretty much always is, apart from the morning practices of the hockey team and the afternoon practices of the figure skating team (which is just a fancy name for Viktor’s training slot). And having arrived especially late in the afternoon, the rink is clear of Viktor. Even with previously crying about him, Yuuri can’t help but feel conflicted. Most parts of him are glad he avoided Viktor but one small part of him had hoped to see him.

Viktor is a magnificent skater, he always has an air of elegance around him and every time Yuuri sees him skate, he is constantly surprising him. It’s how his crush had begun, he’d come into the rink one afternoon- without realising it was closed for others due to Viktor’s practice- and happened to see part of a routine. It was beautiful and so was Viktor and suddenly his heart was beating faster. He would have liked to stay until the end of the routine; however, the Other Yuri, who had also been practicing saw him and hollered a loud, “HEY!” It was only after he scurried out that he noticed the ‘Do Not Disturb- Private Session’ sign on the door.

Yuuri shakes his head. _Of course Viktor’s magnificent,_ he thinks, _He’s a professional figure skater._

He starts picking up speed, circling the rink until he jumps a triple toe loop, a jump he’d been able to do since he was young.  He always loves the feeling of jumping, the feeling of being airborne, feeling as if he can fly. He smiles brightly to himself before continuing to skate around the rink.

Slowly, without even realising it, he begins to skate a routine. He doesn’t remember whether he skated it in one of the competitions he competed in before college or whether it was an athlete’s routine that he’d memorised. Yet somehow his body falls into step with the absent rhythm he’s long forgotten.

Yuuri can’t quite remember where the jumps come in so he adds a triple, then a triple-double combination, another triple and towards the end a quad when he feels they’re necessary.

As the routine came to a close, Yuuri performs a sit spin before raising one arm above his head and standing still in the centre of the rink. He stays like that, breathing heavily while a wide smile makes its way on his face.

A loud clap echoes through the rink and Yuuri drops the position and snaps his head around looking for the source of the noise. “Wow!” he hears and his heart drops, he doesn’t want to turn his head to see who spoke, he knows. “I didn’t know you skated like that Yuuri!”

It takes everything in him to stop from running away. “I used to skate in competitions, before college,” he explains as he hears Viktor get closer.

“Oh really?” Viktor asks. _His accent is thicker than it was in the cafeteria,_ Yuuri notes absently.

Yuuri turns finally, only to find Viktor has blocked the exit of the ice rink. “Yeah,” Yuuri says as he mentally debates if he should ask Viktor to move out of the way.  

Yuuri opens his mouth to make some excuse about how he has to leave but Viktor beats him to it. “I’ve never seen you skate before,” he hums, stepping onto the ice.

Before Yuuri can even think of escaping Viktor begins to skate circles around him, the sudden closeness makes his heart beat faster. _Traitor,_ Yuuri directs at his heart. “I-I guess I avoid other skaters.”

“Lucky I missed my practice time. That was wonderful, Yuuri!”

Yuuri blushes at the compliment and adds his cheeks to the list of traitors. “How did you miss your practice?”

“You were at the cafeteria today, weren’t you? Random people have been following me around all afternoon asking questions.”

Yuuri almost laughs, he probably wouldn’t be as torn up as he currently is if he hadn’t been there. He pretends to check his watch. “I have to go!” Yuuri attempts, trying to skate past the Russian.

Viktor catches Yuuri’s wrist, coming to a stop close to where Yuuri had been standing. “I’ve been thinking this since I saw you skate, but I was thinking you and me should be skating buddies?”

Yuuri turns. “Skating buddies?”

“Yeah, you know, help each other with skating.”

“But you’re a professional!”

“So are you… sort of…”

“A few national competitions hardly means professional. And why me? What about the Other Yuri?”

Viktor laughs. “Yurio’s not good company, he’s always angry.”

“But-“

“Don’t you ever get lonely? Skating is such a lonely sport.”

Yuuri doesn’t know what makes him reluctantly agree. He thinks maybe it’s the subtle pout Viktor pulls, maybe it’s the hopeful tone he had when he first suggested it and maybe, just maybe, he wants to get to know Viktor too- though with everything happening the latter is _highly_ unlikely.

Viktor outright beams at Yuuri’s shaky, “Okay…”

The Russian throws him into a hug, shaking them back and forth. He pulls back and ignoring Yuuri’s dizziness, he grins once more and says, “You won’t regret it!”

_Maybe I’ll need to bring my sunglasses, why is his smile so_ bright _?_ Yuuri thinks.

Before Yuuri can say anything, Viktor skates closer until they’re chest-to-chest and lifts Yuuri’s chin with one hand, while the other stays wrapped firmly around his waist. “So, I guess you want to know who I'm in love with.”

His heart starts hammering and now both his cheeks and ears are warm. “U-uh n-no, I don’t need to know,” Yuuri looks down at his watch once more. “Oh, look at the time, I really have to go!”

Yuuri squirms out of Viktor’s grip and practically runs out of the rink while he calls out happily, “I’ll see you tomorrow at five!”

Yuuri opens the door and can’t stop thinking, _I thought I had enough drama in my life without this._

***

Yuuri’s heart finally calms down once he gets back to his room and he hates it. He wants to get over Viktor, he doesn’t want his heart to beat because of him. He doesn’t want to get to know him. _He’s in love with someone else!_ He thinks.

Just as he begins to wallow, there’s a soft knock on his door. _No one usually visits me at my dorm room,_ he thinks and curiosity getting the better of him, he opens the door _._ Outside his door are Yuko and Nishigori kissing against the wall, on the verge of making out. Yuuri averts his eyes and ignores the pang in his chest upon remembering the last time he kissed someone like that. He coughs slightly and as if he’d done nothing, they break apart almost naturally with Nishigori saying, “I’ll see you later.”

“See you,” Yuko replies, biting her lip. He gives her a kiss on the cheek before waving at Yuuri and leaving.

Yuko walks into Yuuri’s dorm room and sighs dreamily as she flops onto his bed. “Isn’t he amazing?” she gushes.

“So, he’s escorting you now?” Yuuri asks with a smile, sitting down at his desk chair.

“Well, we were on a date and instead of being dropped off at my dorm room, I decided I wanted to check up on you so here I am. How are you feeling?”

“Ignore me, you and Nishigori are getting very close very quickly,” he tries, she gives him a hard look and he sighs running a hand through his hair. “I’m okay, I went to the rink and skated out my feelings.”

“That’s good, I’m glad you’re feeling bet-“

“Viktor was at the rink.”

Yuko stands up, a sympathetic look on her face and hugs him. “Was it okay?”

Yuuri laughs lightly, “He saw me skate and insisted I become his ‘Skate Buddy’, whatever that means.”

“Isn’t he a professional skater?”

“That’s what I asked.”

After a moment of silence Yuuri felt the unanswered question in the air. “I agreed.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I think it’ll be fun. I haven’t met Viktor personally but the Other Yuri says he’s a very happy person.”

Yuuri grunts noncommittally.

“On another note-“

“YUURI!” Phichit slams his door open and both Yuko and Yuuri jump. He rubs the back of his neck. “Ah sorry, but I’ve been working on this since Sunday and I think it’s finally done!”

Phichit pulls a folded-up piece of paper out of his pocket and hands it to Yuuri. The latter opens it up carefully, to see a list of names and notices that the first name- Viktor Nikiforov- is crossed out. “Is this a list of people I could’ve kissed?”

“Yeah! I looked at all the people I sent my ‘I’m having a party text’ to and these are all the people I think I could’ve made him kiss.”

During this explanation, Yuko wanders over and looks at the list. Yuuri hands the list to Yuko and hugs Phichit, “Thank you, Phichit.”

“Not to interrupt,” Yuko coughs, “But some people on this list don’t make sense.”

“How?” Phichit replies.

“Nishigori’s on this list.”

Yuuri breaks into laughter.

“So?” Phichit asks, despite Yuuri’s laughter.

“So, Nishigori and I are dating and he was with me the whole time.”

Phichit starts laughing too and soon Yuko’s rolling her eyes and falling back onto Yuuri’s bed. When Phichit stops laughing he manages to say, “Sorry but I don’t remember much from the party.”

“How about we go through the list? We don’t want any more Nishigori’s to pop up,” Yuuri suggests as he sets the list down on the floor in a place where everyone can see it. Phichit and Yuko sit down opposite him and pass the list between the three of them.

They spend what’s left of the afternoon like that; sitting down on the floor, narrowing down the list and asking Yuuri what he remembers about his Mystery Man. It’s nice, having two friends that are so ready to support him like they are. It’s also nice not to have to think about Viktor for once, despite the guilty feeling he gets from having thought about Viktor for the whole day and essentially forgetting his Mystery Man.

They bring down twenty potential Mystery Men on the list to ten but Yuuri doesn’t feel like he could’ve kissed anyone they have left. He ignores the feeling though, because it’s natural to doubt who you kissed at a party, right?

As they leave, Yuuri thanks both of them, hugs them tightly and thanks them once more. They smile and wave, saying things like, “I’ll see you tomorrow!” Yuuri feels happy and it’s such a wonderful contrast to the crying and wallowing he’d done earlier that day.

He does his homework but becomes somewhat distracted by the list. He begins reciting the names as they’re part of a poem and trying to consider whether or not he could have actually kissed them. This goes on until he’s sitting in bed getting ready to sleep. Even if it was one of the final ten, he tries to think about how he can find out who he kissed. After all, it would be weird if someone randomly goes up to you and asks if you’d kissed them at a party. _If only I could put up a poster,_ Yuuri jokingly thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the angst but hey, angst sometimes makes for a good story? I think I'm just making excuses...
> 
> This chapter is named after Patsy Cline's I Fall To Pieces! I thought it fit well for this chapter. Still thinking I should maybe make a playlist, but I don't know. 
> 
> HAPPY NEW YEAR'S FUCK YOU 2016 (but I must thank you for YOI)
> 
> ALSO EPISODE 12!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOI'S OVER!
> 
> Once again, my tumblr is fandompowerpoints. If you want to scream about Yuri!!! on ICE with me or just anything else really, don't hesitate to message me.
> 
> Until next time!


	4. Is It Me You're Looking For?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Yuuri is on his way to class one morning, he is thoroughly shocked, terrified and excited all at once and it’s all because of the posters that parade around the school. Overnight, bright yellow posters were hung up, adorned with hearts and bold black lettering saying: Are you a man? Did you make out with someone at Phichit’s party last Saturday? Call this number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so guess who said she'd up in a week and then updated two weeks and a few days later. THIS GAL!!! WOO.  
> Sorry about updating so late, just this chapter is super important and I wanted it to be written/edited really well but it's here now so I hope you enjoy it.

A few days go by and Yuuri marvels at how uneventful those days had been. He had fallen into a boring routine that hadn’t been any different from the one he had before all the drama in his life began. It consists of him waking up and going to his different classes before returning to his room to have a nap. The only things that stand out are his skating sessions with Viktor which- contrary to Yuuri’s premonitions- are actually helpful. Every day, Yuuri meets him at the rink unless he’s unable to and they either go over jumps, routines or whatever either party prefers. Yet still he finds himself thinking about how lacklustre and  _normal_ everything has become.

That is why when Yuuri is on his way to class one morning, he is thoroughly shocked, terrified and excited all at once and it’s all because of the posters that parade around the school. Overnight, bright yellow posters were hung up, adorned with hearts and bold black lettering saying:  _Are you a man?_   _Did you make out with someone at Phichit’s party last Saturday? Call this number_. At the bottom of the poster, separate slips had been cut with a phone number on them and a few had already been torn off.

With no hesitation, Yuuri’s first thought is that  _this_ is his Mystery Man. With that thought, his stomach fills with happy butterflies and he feels a smile break out onto his face.  _My Mystery Man is trying to find me too,_ is all he can think as he almost jumps in place. He takes a deep breath, smile still bright on his face and reaches out to take a number; yet just as his fingers wrap around a slip, he stops- a sudden image of familiar tanned cheeks pulled up with a mischievous smile and a troublemaking glint in brown eyes having flashed in his mind.

The sudden image of Phichit makes Yuuri groan and run a hand through his hair. A stupid poster such as the one in front of him is  _such_ a Phichit thing to do in this situation that he can’t handle it. Checking the number on the slips to make sure they aren’t his own number and being satisfied to find they aren’t, Yuuri rearranges his messenger bag on his shoulder and walks towards his first class vowing to reap revenge of Phichit once the day is done.

***

Yuuri has one class left that day and he is  _seething_. While walking to different areas of the campus in between his different classes, he saw millions of the posters; all stuck to trees, poles and in an odd instance a bench. Whenever he went up to one he saw a group of students practically laughing at it, so he walked away red to his ears in embarrassment. He wants to take them down but he knows that if anyone saw him, they’d think the poster was his and, similar to wildfire, the rumour that  _he’d_ put up the poster would be known to everyone by the next day. Thus, Mystery Man would know that he’s the guy he kissed.  _Maybe, that was Phichit’s plan all along_ , he thinks heatedly.

_How would my Mystery Man react to_ me _being the guy he kissed?_ Yuuri can’t help but wonder. _Would he be happy? Would he be sad? Would he not want anything to do with me?_

 “Hey Yuuri~” He hears, he looks up just as Christophe Giacometti sits down in the seat next to him.

Yuuri doesn’t know Chris well, having only spoken to him long enough to know he takes every conversation as an opportunity to flirt. So, he finds he jumps as the Swiss man speaks to him.

“Hi Chris,” he replies as soon as he gets over his shock.

There’s a beat of silence as Chris looks him up and down, only to stop and analyse his face. Chris breaks the silence, his accent thick in his voice, “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or am I going to have to figure it out for myself?”

Yuuri’s eyes widen with surprise, “W-What?”

“Oh please, I could see you sulking from the moment I walked in, so what’s up?”

“Well, I…” Yuuri begins trying to find a way around answering him. “Why are you talking to me?”

“Yuuri, any friend of Viktor’s is a friend of mine. Though I can’t say the same for the ‘Ice Fairy’ Yurio, he tends to be… how do I say… more…”

“Combative?”

Chris lets out a low chuckle, “I was going to say aggressive but that works too.”

“Thank you for the thought but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s just to do with a friend of mine.”

“Okay, I won’t press.”

Yuuri sighs in relief and almost turns away before Chris notes, “I realised I don’t know you that well, and if you’re hanging around Viktor I’ll be seeing you more often. So, how long have you been skating, Yuuri?”

The two continue to talk until their professor strolls in, acting as if they normally start twenty minutes late. Yuuri finds he gets along better than expected with Chris, which is saying something- Yuuri having thought he was some sort of perverted playboy. He learns a lot from him to such as the fact that he does figure skating too and, as the conversation stems away from skating, other things about his life that Yuuri had never known.

They say, “Bye,” to each other at the end of class and Yuuri can’t stop himself from smiling, adding ‘making more friends’ onto the list of good things to have come out of skating with Viktor.

***

His interaction with Chris has him ignoring and going so far as forgetting about the posters Phichit put up earlier that morning, so as soon as he arrives back at his dorm room he sits at his desk and revises his notes peacefully, the whole thought of reaping revenge gone from his mind. This is quickly ruined by an excited knock followed by an equally as enthusiastic “Yuuri!”

Both these coming from the person Yuuri wants to see the least, Phichit. Begrudgingly, he stands up, stomps to the door and opens it. Pushing past him, Phichit marches inside all while babbling on.

“Who knew?” he laughs excitedly as he flops onto Yuuri’s bed. “I couldn’t believe it at first! But Yuuri-“

“Phichit! Stop!” Yuuri’s anger boils over forcing the outburst. He slams the door shut and turns to his friend. “How could you? Do you know how embarrassed I am?”

A puzzled expression finds its way onto Phichit’s face. “Wha-?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about! I know I asked for your help but you know how I am! And,” Yuuri’s waving his hands about as if it can make his argument more valid, “don’t get me wrong, I love that you are helping me but I wanted things to be subtle!”

Still looking confused, Phichit watches Yuuri pace. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Yuuri lets out a frustrated groan before turning to face Phichit. “The posters Phichit! The posters  _you_ put up.”

Phichit looks confused for a few more seconds before the expression melts away on his face and he lets out a fond sigh, “Are you kidding me? You thought  _I_ put up the poster. I’m your original skating buddy! I know not to put up things like that poster.”

“Sorry, I don’t know- I just thought…”

“It’s fine,” Phichit acquiesces as he stands and hugs Yuuri.

He returns the hug.

“And if I didn’t put up the poster…” Phichit smirks, pulling away from the hug.

“It couldn’t…”

“Yuuri! Of  _course,_ it could! Who else matches the description, except you?”

Yuuri fell on his bed. “Haven’t you ever seen how crazy your parties are?”

“True… But it doesn’t hurt to try!” The Thai man beams, sitting down next to him.

“I… I didn’t get the number.”

“No problem!” Phichit winks, digging through his pockets until he pulls out a small yellow slip. Phichit pushes the slip into his hands. Yuuri analyses it and stands up to get his phone- Phichit lets out a delighted squeal- only to slump in his desk chair.

“I can’t,” he uttered.

“Yes, you can! All you have to do is type in those numbers and dial.”

“No, I just… What if it  _is_  him?”

“That’s great!”

“No I mean… What if he doesn’t like that it’s… me?” Yuuri looks down at his twiddling fingers on the desk. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s been thinking about this fact every time his Mystery Man comes up. After all, who’d want to have kissed plain old Yuuri Katsuki- who’s an unpopular, chubby hermit with only  _two_ proper friends?

“He won’t!”

“He might.”

“Yuuri, didn’t you tell me you felt a spark?”

“Well yeah but-“

“And if  _you_ felt a spark, he 100% felt it too.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now call him!”

Yuuri laughs at Phichit’s badly hidden eagerness. “Okay, okay.”

He enters the number into his phone and dials. The phone rings a few times, each ring setting Yuuri on edge; almost as if the butterflies in his stomach double in size with each new elongated ring. Yuuri’s tongue has gone numb and it feels like he has a useless lump that he has to force sounds past. He’s so nervous, his hands are shaking and he feels a constant shiver travelling up and down his spine. He tries going over what he might say as the phone rings but he never seems to get it quite right, he constantly reminds himself that things like, “I’m the guy you made out with in the coat closet at Phichit’s party,” are perfectly normal in his situation.

Then suddenly, after numerous rings is a simple, “Hello.”

Immediately he answers, tripping over himself to utter a, “Hi.”

Before he can introduce himself and say anything he’s been repeating, a monotone voice continues, “The number you have tried to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone.”

A beep sounds and as Yuuri begins to breathe out a sentence, everything he planned to say is suddenly gone-leaving his mind blank. He gulps and instead of saying anything, he freaks out and hangs up. Holding the phone in his hands he tries to steady his breathing but they come out like the shivers of a person on the edge of hypothermia.

Once he’s calmer he turns to face Phichit who’s still on his bed, the latter’s face torn between quizzical and excited. “So?” he prompts.

Yuuri, not trusting himself to speak, just shakes his head lightly and lays his phone on the desk while leaning back in his chair.

“So… it wasn’t him?”

“…I don’t know, he didn’t pick up.”

Phichit sits up and reaches over so he can touch his arm. “That doesn’t mean anything. Try him again later today and he’ll pick up. I’m sure it’s him.”

“Well, we’ll see.”

“We definitely will.”

***

“What do you think of those posters?” Viktor asks as Yuuri does his stretches on one of the benches in the rink.

After the call (or lack thereof), Yuuri’s phone had buzzed with a text from Viktor:

_Meet me at the rink in 15 mins_ _ヾ（〃＾_   _∇_   _＾）ﾉ_   _♪_

Immediately, Yuuri ushered Phichit out, ignoring his cheeky smirk and comment, “Viktor texted, didn’t he?”

As soon as he was out the door, Yuuri got into his practice gear before pulling his skates out of the closet and walking to the rink. Reaching out for the handle, Yuuri noticed a ‘Do Not Disturb- Private Session’ notice and almost laughed as he opened the door exactly fifteen minutes after he got the text.

Victor was doing some warm up laps and practising a few moves while waiting for him to finish stretching. From what he had seen, Viktor had been moving quickly, his arms moving around in angry juts; but Yuuri couldn’t help but feel like he was moving anxiously.

Now, the Russian skater watches him from the edge of the rink as he laces up his skates. “I think they’re tacky,” Yuuri responds, he doesn’t mean to sound harsh as he does when he says it but perhaps the burn of his Mystery Man not picking up still bothers him.

The thought of being rejected has been festering ever since the call. He has a nauseous feeling in his stomach whenever he thinks about his Mystery Man now, he just thinks of the indistinct voice telling him he doesn’t want him anymore now that he knows who he really is and he can’t stand it. Before, when he thought about him, all Yuuri felt was butterflies in his stomach and warmth in his cheeks that he could go as far as saying was the beginning of love. Now, the same happens but it’s muted and replaced with a slowly encompassing sickness.

“Really?” Viktor’s dejected voice snaps him out of his swirling void of anxiety.

He goes to step onto the rink all while anxiously babbling in an attempt to make up for the harshness of his words, “Well it was the wording really. Everything else was fine, maybe there was a way to word it that was better…” He follows the other man as he skates away slowly and a realisation dawns on him, “You-You didn’t make the posters, did you?”

Viktor stops skating and looks at him with wide eyes, “No, a-a friend did.”

Before Yuuri can stop to think about it, Viktor takes his hands and pulls him towards the centre edge of the rink. “I have a program to show you,” he announces softly as they stop, his hands still holding Yuuri’s. The latter is blushing from the contact and looks up to find Viktor staring at him with a tender look. “Promise you’ll watch?”

“Of course,” Yuuri responds, hypnotised by the look in Viktor’s eyes. The Russian smiles and skates towards the centre of the rink. Yuuri feels the cold grip his hands where Viktor’s hands had previously been and instantly misses his touch.

The routine starts and even without music, it’s enchanting. As Viktor skates, he realises he can draw a story from the movements and jumps he performs; a man lost and out of touch finds something that heals him, that puts him back together, but soon after he’s discovered it, the something disappears, while the man feels broken at the loss there’s a slim chance that he’ll find the something again, leaving the man hopeful. Viktor returns to the centre of the ice with his arms reaching out as a final position and as he turns to Yuuri for feedback, he hums before saying, “I thought the story was incomplete.”

Viktor looks confused so Yuuri explains the story he saw in his routine. Finishing with, “If the routine were to end with the man finding what he was looking for, it would create a more beautiful finish.”

Viktor laughs but to Yuuri, his laugh sounds sarcastic or ironic. “Thank you, Yuuri. I’ll think about it.”

The way he smiles at him warmly has Yuuri’s heart reeling. Butterflies suddenly bubbling in his stomach, blush warm on his cheeks.  _This is exactly what thinking about my Mystery Man was like,_ Yuuri thinks with a start and at the same time realising that while his feelings for his Mystery Man are fading, his feelings for Viktor are only growing stronger.

“Apart from that, I loved it,” Yuuri says, forcing a smile on his face.

***

The next day, Yuuri trudges to his classes tiredly. His fear of losing the chance at his Mystery Man keeping him up all night; making plans and trying to call the number from the poster to no avail. Before going to bed, Yuuri decided he would call the number at lunch and after his classes ended- even if he interrupted his Mystery Man’s lunch, he hoped he would want to hear from Yuuri, no matter the cost. Yet as he sits at his usual desk for Advanced Literature, the prickly feeling of oddness follows him around again. He goes the whole day wondering what it could be, checking his bag multiple times to check for a missing assignment.

But the lack of neon yellow sets him off. All the posters are gone, not a single one is left.

Fear settles in, while he does have the number on his phone, he feels as if the posters going down are a silent message to back off, so he decides it’s best if he doesn’t call the number at lunch or after his last class has ended.

With the last sliver of hope, he thinks that maybe some of the staff had taken them down for being too garish or rude. This hope is squashed when he talks to Phichit and Yuko the next day about the posters and they tell him they heard, “The guy that made them took them down himself.”

He’s lying on his bed that afternoon and looking at his recent calls hopelessly. Trying to prove his anxiety wrong and giving his Mystery Man one last chance, he taps the number from the posters and lets it ring. Similar to all the other times he tried to call, the phone rings an uncountable number of times before a familiar but hated voice says, “Hello.”

Yuuri hangs up before it can continue and deletes the number off his phone before placing it on his desk and plugging into charge. He huddles himself up into a ball and cries, going over thoughts about how he’s losing his chance at love.

After he’s cried enough to make his pillow damp, he wipes his eyes and sniffs- too lazy to pull out some tissues he rubs his nose with the back of his hand and starts to think again.

Yuuri knows he’s missed his chance at love; after all, it was just beginning to develop with  _thoughts_  of his Mystery Man. Still, he can’t ignore the fact that the man he could have loved doesn’t want to be found. First, leaving a number he never responded to; Second, taking down the posters. And since he doesn’t want to be found, Yuuri will forget him and move on, no matter how long it takes.  _It was only one night,_ he thinks,  _you will find someone who makes it feel like a million nights._

His mind soon wanders to Viktor, about how he’s supposed to deal with having a crush on someone who’s in love with someone else. He supposes he should try to move on from that too, even if it’s defying him and getting stronger.

Yuuri sighs,  _Emotions are complicated._

A buzz sounds from his phone and he picks it up to see a text from Phichit.

_U ok?_

He types a reply.

_Yeah, just needed to think about some things._

Another text from Phichit comes soon after.

_If ur up 4 it we culd go see a movie??_

Yuuri smiles.

_Sounds good._

He gets off his bed and gets ready to go out; already in a better state of mind than he ever thought could be possible.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! This chapter was named after Lionel Richie's 'Hello' as I thought it was extremely fitting.  
> I'm excited about the next chapter (I know I say that all the time but seriously)!  
> And, as usual, if you want to scram about Yuri!!! on ICE with me my tumbler is fandompowerpoints


	5. Dream A Little Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let’s play a game!” Yuuri hears Phichit holler from across the room.   
> “What game?”   
> “Wellllll,” Phichit slurs, he pulls up a bottle. “I just downed this bottle… So, let’s play SPIN THE BOTTLE!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god! I actually wrote a chapter within (almost) a week, I don't know how this happened but I am extremely happy about it.   
> In addition to this being released sooner than expected, this chapter is a monster at around 6k.   
> So anyway I hope you enjoy it! I'm sorry if it's terrible.

Yuuri has come to realise that Phichit isn’t the best when it comes to movies. He always either falls asleep just as they’re starting to get good, talks over the top of it (usually saying things like, “Yuuri did you see what just happened? OH MY GOD!”), or goes on his phone (all while saying, “Don’t worry, I can multitask.”). In the particular instance, they were in, Yuuri finds that this point is further proved.  

Having decided that going to the cinema would be too expensive, they decided to watch a movie in Phichit’s room, given that he has a TV and a whole bunch of movies. Yet, as they sit down to watch the movie they picked out, Yuuri forgets the very obvious fact that Phichit is an absolutely _terrible_ person to watch movies with. So, he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is when Phichit turns and states, “You and Viktor are getting along pretty well.”

Still, as he says it, Yuuri jumps and automatically responds, “We’re not!”

“You two aren’t getting along?” Phichit asks in a tone that makes Yuuri suspects he was expecting that exact answer and a shit-eating grin wide on his face.

“Not in the way you’re implying,” Yuuri answers, attempting to turn his attention back to the movie.

Phichit scoots closer to him as he hums an elongated, “Oh, really?”

Yuuri immediately thinks, _this isn’t going to end well for me, is it?_

“Then how come when I went to check up on you during one of your skating sessions with Viktor, you two were _holding hands_ as you skated?” As he says it, there’s a teasing lilt to his voice that Yuuri doesn’t like.

“It’s not like that. He was going to show me a routine so he was bringing me where he wanted me to stand.”

“There are ways to make someone go somewhere without holding their hands.”

Yuuri huffs harshly, “Can we not talk about this?”

“Sorry,” Phichit mumbles, sitting down where he was sitting before. Yuuri immediately feels guilty for being so harsh with Phichit, he shouldn’t be so rude to him, he’s the only friend he has now considering Yuko’s newfound preoccupation with Nishigori.

“No-it’s… look, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to think about me and Viktor being a thing.”

There a lull in the conversation that’s broken by Phichit asking, “Why?”

Yuuri thinks back on his recent resolutions. One, getting over his Mystery Man since he clearly doesn’t want to be found. Two, getting over his feelings for Viktor because he’s in love with someone who isn’t Yuuri Katsuki. He hasn’t told Phichit of either resolution yet and in all honesty, he hasn’t planned to. “Because I can’t like him.”

An awkward silence settles on them as Phichit looks down at his feet with furrowed brows. Yuuri notes absentmindedly that the TV is suddenly audible again. “You can like whoever you want you to know. Just because he’s in love with someone else doesn’t mean you can’t like him.”

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean I should,” Yuuri mumbles. Another silence falls upon them and Yuuri feels bad that’s he’s made it awkward _._ But despite that, he knows he has to let go of the idea of Viktor ever feeling the way Yuuri feels about him. It’s naïve to hold on to the hope of anything happening him and Viktor because of the fact that keeps pointing itself out: he’s in love with someone else.

“And what about your Mystery Man? Are you going to give up on him too?” Phichit snaps. Yuuri stares at him wide-eyed, stunned at the sudden hostility in his tone.

“Yes, I am.”

“Why?” Phichit whips around to face him, anger written plain on his face.

“Well, he doesn’t want to be found. After not answering the phone every single time I called him and taking down the posters.”

“For god’s sake, Yuuri!” Phichit begins, his arms flailing. Yuuri doesn’t know what to do so he just sits and stares as he practically screams at him. “Why do you do this to yourself?! Why do you think you don’t deserve what you _do_ deserve? Why do you think you’re not allowed to be happy? Not even allowed to try?”

“I-I-“ Yuuri’s never seen Phichit like this and he feels tears welling up in his eyes. He wants to be angry at Phichit shouting at him but he can’t because he agrees. He’s angry at himself for never taking any chances, he’s angry that he’s given up but he’s angry at the fact that he's being led to make all these decisions because of his anxiety.

“Oh, Yuuri please don’t cry,” Phichit says softly, settling down and taking his hands in his own. “I didn’t mean to be so aggressive. I’m sorry.”

Yuuri tries to wipe his eyes unsuccessfully because as soon as some have been wiped away double the amount take their place.

“I’m really sorry. I know you can’t help it… I shouldn’t have…” Phichit’s beginning to cry himself and Yuuri laughs, _We’re such a mess._

“It’s okay Phichit,” he laughs, pulling the other man close in a hug.

“I’m such a mess,” Phichit cries into Yuuri’s shoulder.

“Me too,” He laughs then takes a deep breath to say, “You’re right, though, Phichit. I need to stop being so self-destructive. I’m trying, I’m trying really hard.”

“I know Yuuri. I know,” Phichit mumbles before laughing lightly to himself, “You’re the only person I know that would say self-destructive in a conversation.”

Yuuri rolls his eyes. They’re both still crying but it isn’t bothering either of them, so they just let it out.

“I can help you if you want,” Phichit offers, pulling away and wiping at his eyes. “For example, if you want to move on, there’s a party this weekend we could go to.”

“Okay then, let’s do it,” Yuuri smiles, replying without hesitation.

“I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow in the cafeteria. It’s at JJ’s so I’ll talk over details.”

“That sounds good.”

As they sit back down to watch the end of the movie, Yuuri wonders how he ever got a good a friend as Phichit. They hadn’t really known each other for long and they hadn’t been too close until the dilemma with his Mystery Man, but even so it almost feels -at least to Yuuri- like they’ve been friends for years.

_Best friend,_ he corrects himself. _How did I get such a good best friend?_

***

The next day at the cafeteria, Yuuri sits at his usual table waiting for Phichit. Usually, Yuko would be sitting with him but as he’s begun to spend more time with Phichit, Yuko’s taken it as a green light to spend more time with Nishigori. And as much as he would like to complain, he doesn’t want to ruin anything they might have by imposing. Still, he feels awkward as he sits alone at a table eating a cereal bar.

“Yuuri! Sorry, I wasn’t here sooner. You know the good-looking Korean guy I’ve been crushing on? Well, I just found out he’s a total jerk,” Phichit explains, sitting down opposite Yuuri.

“Good-looking Korean guy?” Yuuri wonders aloud, he tries to rack his brain for anything he’s heard about him. He continues to think about it as he slides a small bowl of rice and a spoon across the table and Phichit begins eating subconsciously.

“Oh, right! I’ve been too distracted by your Mystery Man to tell you.”

“Sorry!” Yuuri automatically replies. Ever since their movie night, Yuuri’s been trying to be honest with Phichit by talking to him about almost everything and while Phichit has done the same, there’s still a few details that seem to have been missed.

“Don’t be, I was the one who was distracted.”

“Still-“

“It’s fine…” Phichit replies with a smile. Yuuri’s also noticed that since their crying session, Phichit’s been taking care of what he says and does, in apology for his outburst. It’s almost scary how Phichit seems to pick up on his anxiety.

“Where was I?” Phichit taps his chin with his index finger as he thinks. “Right, so there’s guy called Lee Seung-Gil in my Media Studies class and I’m the unfortunate position of sitting in front of him and I never noticed him until he answered this one question a week or two ago. The thing is, Yuuri, he’s really hot and he has these great eyebrows and ugh… he has to sit _behind_ me.”

“He sounds great. What did he do?”

“Well, I was leaving class and he stopped to talk to me. And you know what that jerk said? He said,” Phichit clears his throat and his voice drops a few octaves as to imitate him, “’Your note-taking is ineffective. From what I saw, you’ve lost most of the information the professor gave.’”

“He didn’t really say that,” Yuuri rolls his eyes. Phichit has the slight tendency to overexaggerate.

“He did! And so, my crush on him has been destroyed.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him that I thought my notes were fine and walked away.”

Yuuri nods before he thinks upon the time it took for Phichit to get to the cafeteria. “Why were you so late then if that’s how fast the interaction went?”

Phichit scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment as he recounts, “Well I was so angry I wasn’t paying attention to where I was-“

Phichit stops as someone places a tray on the table and slides into the spot next to Yuuri. No one ever sits at the table when they sit there, Yuuri had always thought his presence was some sort of repellent. A Yuuri turns to see the newcomer is none other than his Skating Buddy, Viktor Nikiforov. “Sorry to interrupt,” he beams.

Yuuri’s about to ask about the Russian skater’s sudden presence when the Other Yuri plops into the seat next to Phichit and ‘tsks’. Then, as Yuuri watches dumbfounded, Christophe sits next to Viktor and Mila Babicheva sits next to Yuri. “What’s happening?” Yuuri blurts out louder than he means to.

“I just saw you and Phichit and decided I should say hi and everyone followed. Oh, you don’t know everyone do you, Yuuri?” Viktor remarks and introduces his clique one by one. “That’s Yuri or the Other Yuri. That’s Mila and that’s Chris.”

Yuuri knows each of their names already but is still too shocked to respond as Yuri grunts, Mila waves and Chris announces, “Yuuri and I have met before, Viktor.” He leans past him to take Yuuri’s hands in his. “We had a wonderful conversation in Psychology. Though, I’m surprised you didn’t tell him, Yuuri.”

At the mention of his name, Yuuri snaps back into reality. “Why are you sitting here?” he asks as Chris withdraws his hands.

“Is not okay for me to sit with you, Yuuri?” Viktor responds, tilting his head.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just a little surprised.”

“I told you,” The Other Yuri draws out.

“Hey Yurio-is it okay if I call you that?” Phichit smiles, addressing the Other Yuri.

“No, it’s horrible.”

“Great!” Phichit exclaims, ignoring Yurio completely. “Why isn’t Otabek with you?”

Yurio points a finger and growls, “Don’t-“

“Yurio’s boyfriend decided to study this afternoon,” Mila explains.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Yurio snaps.

“Okay, Lover Boy,” Mila teases.

“I really hope it’s okay we sat here,” Viktor murmurs in Yuuri’s ear as everyone else around them keeps chatting.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Phichit seems to be fine with it too,” Yuuri laughs, looking at Phichit who’s teasing Yurio with Mila.

“Oi, Viktor! Stop cuddling up to that pig!”

“Yurio!” Viktor hisses, looking at Yuuri worriedly but Yuuri just laughs. He’s definitely been called worse in his lifetime and he can’t help but laugh at his attempt to seem threatening despite being younger than all of them.

“Pig?” He raises an eyebrow in Yurio’s direction.

He fumbles with his answer before turning to Viktor and shouting, “My name’s not Yurio!”

“Hush, Yurio! You’re being too loud,” Chris adds.

Yurio lets out a frustrated groan.

“You know he interrupted our practice once, right?” Yurio addresses Viktor and Yuuri shudders inwardly. _At least I know it was Yurio that shouted,_ Yuuri thinks in an attempt to stay positive.

Viktor shrugs, “So?”

Yurio growls.

“Sorry about him, he’s not usually this rude,” Mila apologises.

Yuuri shakes his head in a wordless, ‘It’s fine.’ He’d expected as much from the Other Yuri anyway.

“I almost forgot! Yuuri, I was supposed to tell you about the party, wasn’t I?” Phichit asks.

“Y-yeah, you were,” Yuuri agrees. He suddenly feels sheepish talking about a party in front people he doesn’t really know. Yuuri knows that Phichit will continue talking about it anyway though so he might as well agree.

“Do you mean JJ’s party on Friday?” Chris asks.

“Yeah,” Phichit replies.

“ _Both_ of you are going?” Viktor asks incredulously. Yuuri feels like he should be offended but given how his last party was basically his first he ignores it.

“Yes, we’re _both_ going,” Phichit replies, the tone he uses hints aggression but Yuuri knows he’s just defending him. “I was just about to tell Yuuri more about it, actually.”

“Thank god you two are going. I thought no one I knew was. These three don’t want to go,” Chris sighs in relief.

“You’re not going?” Yuuri asks Viktor, “I thought parties were ‘your thing’.”

“I wouldn’t call them ‘my thing’,” Viktor says. “But if you’re-you two are going it might be fun.”

“So, I should see you there?” Yuuri asks in response.

“Yes. Yes, you’ll see me there.”

***

Yuuri begins to regret going to the party once he knows he’s a block away. He’s prepared this time but it still doesn’t make him any less nervous. Almost half an hour before they had decided to meet up, Phichit had turned up at his dorm room and insisted he pick his outfit. It hadn’t taken long for Phichit to look through his cupboard, pick out a plain t-shirt and jeans and then force Yuuri to wear a stylish jacket he thought to bring along.

But even with the way he’s looking and his confidence during the walk up, once he reaches the house it’s completely gone.

“Phichit…” He starts but stops.

Phichit, picking up on his mood, turns to face him. “You okay?” He asks. “Or do you wanna go home?”

Somehow, even though his anxiety has a death grip on him and keeps whispering horrid scenarios in his head, he shakes his head to clear his mind and announces, “No. No, I’m good. Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” Phichit asks.

Yuuri doesn’t know why he’s suddenly ignoring (or at least attempting to ignore) his anxiety but he thinks it has something to do with the soft, worrying looks his best friend is giving him. So, he takes a deep breath and in doing so, suppresses some of his anxiety for a moment. He still feels nervous and self-conscious but he thinks he’ll be okay if Phichit is there with him. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“Then okay,” Phichit smiles and winks at him before leading him towards the party.

When they enter, Yuuri finds that this party is in no way as hectic as Phichit’s had been (which he finds surprising given JJ’s extravagance). For one, there’s calmer music which Yuuri supposes he should have guessed considering he hadn’t heard a thumping bass on his way there. Moreover, everyone is chatting or slow dancing in time with the music. Yuuri feels his nervousness creep back up on him again as he realises he doesn’t _have a clue on what to do at a relaxed party._

He feels a tug on his arm and soon he’s being led to the drinks table by Phichit, which despite the calm feel of the party is stocked with almost every kind of alcohol you can think of (albeit cheap versions).  Phichit pours himself a cup of beer and offers a reassuring glance to Yuuri, “I promise this is all the booze I’ll drink.”

Yuuri looks at him sceptically but still nods and pours himself a beer of his own. As he’s sipping, Phichit pulls his phone out of his pocket and types in a text; almost instantaneously he gets a reply. After reading the reply, Phichit looks up at him and says in answer to Yuuri’s quizzical look, “Chris’s here and so is Viktor. They’re gonna meet us here.”

Yuuri looks around the rather large living room as Phichit continues to text but he doesn’t see them anywhere. As he continues searching the room, he wonders when Phichit got Chris’s number- assuming it’s Chris’s number he got- and how long they’ve been texting for ( _though it can’t have been long considering they only properly met a few hours ago,_ he thinks); he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is, he realises, given how obsessed Phichit is with his phone.

Even though he doesn’t see either Chris or Viktor, something or rather _someone_ is staring at him. As he turns to properly look at them, he takes their appearance in: he’s of a somewhat stocky build with brown eyes, black hair and bold eyebrows, he also notices that the stranger’s talking to Otabek and Mila (despite the fact that he might not be paying much attention). Yet, as Yuuri observes him he realises that this guy that is staring straight at him is _hot_. He feels himself blush under this stranger’s gaze but he continues to stare back at him, until he notices that this man isn’t, in fact, staring at him. Following his gaze, he turns to the right only to find himself looking back upon his best friend who is still texting Chris.

Yuuri almost can’t believe it, this random _hot_ stranger is staring straight at Phichit and he hasn’t even noticed. If he noticed, Yuuri would expect him to go up and talk to the guy, maybe even flirt with him. Taking one last look to see if the Hot Guy is still staring at his friend, he turns back to the drinks table in an attempt to remain inconspicuous. “Phichit,” he murmurs, loud enough for his friend to hear.

“Yeah, they’re taking ages but apparently, people keep stopping them to talk,” he explains, “Hurry up!” he says as he types.

“No, Phichit. There’s this hot guy who keeps staring at you,” he informs.

Phichit snaps to attention and looks around as he practically squeals a, “Where?”

Yuuri laughs and gestures with his head. “Don’t be so obvious. He’s the one talking to Otabek and Mila over there.”

He watches Phichit’s face as he scans the room for the stranger, he predicts that as soon as he sees him, Phichit will begin walking over and striking up a conversation. Yet when Phichit lays eyes on the stranger, his expression sours and he turns back towards the drinks table. “That is not a hot guy, Yuuri. That is the Not-So-Good-Looking Korean Guy from my Media Studies Class.”

Yuuri’s mouth forms an ‘o’.

Phichit groans loudly. “I should’ve known he’d be here. Yuuri! I know I promised you we’d go to this party but a nightclub sounds like so much fun right now, let’s go!” Phichit babbles, just as he starts to walk away.

“Phichit,” Yuuri says in a parental tone, “we told Chris and Viktor we were coming so we should stay. Also, he’s not that bad- we can just avoid him.”

Phichit sighs, “You’re right, you’re right.”

“Anyway, he’s not even looking at you now,” Yuuri adds, looking over at where the Not-So-Good-Looking Korean Guy is standing. He’s gone back to talking to Otabek and Mila.

Phichit breathes a sigh of relief and downs his cup before filling it up again. Yuuri watches the Not-So-Good-Looking Korean Guy as he realises that he was excusing himself from the conversation and is beginning to walk away from them and towards Phichit and Yuuri.

“What’s he doing now?” Phichit asks.

“Well, he’s not staring at you-“

“Good.”

“But he’s walking towards us.”

“What?!”

“Calm down, it’ll be fine. I can do most of the talking.”

He’s only a few steps away from them when Phichit grumbles, “You have a terrible way of phrasing things.”

“Hello,” the Not-So-Good-Looking Korean Guy greets curtly, addressing Phichit.

“Hi,” Yuuri says. He feels his anxiety bubbling away but he stills himself. If Phichit can defend him, he sure as hell can defend Phichit. “I’m Yuuri. I’m a friend of Phichit’s.”

“I’m Seung-Gil,” he introduces. Yuuri mentally sighs in relief, he’s gotten sick of calling him the Not-So-Good-Looking Korean Guy.

As Yuuri attempts to think of another topic, Seung-Gil turns to Phichit and asks in a monotone voice, “Can I talk to you in private?”

Before Phichit can turn his head and scoff a, ‘no,’ (as Yuuri knows he might have done) he spots Chris and Viktor as they enter the room. Phichit, obviously glad for the distraction practically throws himself at Chris with a loud, “Chris! What took you so long?”

Yuuri’s about to join him but just as he’s about to walk towards him, he notices the look of utter shock and almost sadness across Seung-Gil’s face as he looks at Phichit and Chris laughing. Feeling a sense of pity override any hostility he had for him before he clears his throat and says, “Phichit’s just mad about how the first time you spoke to him, you insulted him.”

Seung-Gil’s face becomes neutral again before Yuuri continues, “And he isn’t dating anyone.”

Seung-Gil’s emotionless face seems to gain all the hostility that Yuuri had previously lost. “What makes you think I want to know that?” he spits.

_So, he is a jerk,_ Yuuri thinks as he shrugs and walks away.

When Yuuri joins them, Chris and Phichit are already discussing how to liven up the party. In between mentions of adding pop music to the speakers and turning off the lights, Viktor shuffles closer to him and sighs jokingly, “I always thought JJ had more in him.”

Yuuri smiles and replies, “I thought we were at the wrong place for a while. Seems Phichit thought so too.”

Seung-Gil has returned to his previous conversation with Otabek and Mila has gravitated towards Phichit and Chris. With the addition of another ‘rave’ enthusiast, they’ve gotten rowdier.

“I can’t go anywhere with Chris! This is _always_ what happens,” Viktor groans after a moment.

“I know what you mean, look at Phichit,” Yuuri sympathises and gestures at Phichit who is at the moment running to the drinks table to pour in every drink after Chris challenged him to drink them all. “He always does this.”

“Make it more challenging!” Phichit hollers at Chris from across the room.

“I thought you said you’d only have one drink!” Yuuri shouts at him before realising, _I’m in a public place with a bunch of people and I just shouted. Everyone’s gonna hate me now._

In a surprise turn of events, everyone seems to laugh at Yuuri’s shouted comment and Phichit’s, “I’ll be fine!” in response.

He doesn’t notice; however because he’s too distracted by the melodious chortle that comes from his right. “Did he really say that?” Viktor asks once he stops laughing.

“Y-Yeah… I knew not to trust him when he said it,” Yuuri replies, almost forgetting to reply due to the laugh. _You’re doing a great job getting over Viktor, aren’t you?_ His brain unhelpfully supplies.

“So, you’ve seen him at parties often?” Viktor asks.

“No, not many. I don’t really like parties,” he explains, “But you probably already knew that. What about you? Go to parties often.”

“No, not really.”

Yuuri gasps teasingly. “ _The_ Viktor Nikiforov doesn’t go to parties! I can’t believe it!”

Viktor laughs once more and Yuuri laughs too, (and if he tells you it’s _not_ in order to distract himself from Viktor’s laugh, he’s lying). “But you don’t understand, Yuuri! My dog is the cutest and he hates being alone for too long.”

“You have a dog?” Yuuri freezes, he loves dogs. “Why didn’t you tell me? What breed is he?”

“He’s a brown poodle.”

Yuuri takes a breath to steel himself, “Do you have pictures?”

“Of course!”

Viktor then proceeds to pull out his phone and swipe through them. Yuuri tries not to freak out but his dog, Makkachin, is just like his old dog from home and so automatically Yuuri adores him. Yuuri spends a few minutes gushing over him until Viktor puts his phone away and talks more about him. “Viktor Nikiforov, you are excused from not being a partygoer.”

“Thank you, Yuuri,” he laughs once more. “I’ll tell Makkachin.”

Yuuri laughs and as he does his mind wanders off. He wonders if he’ll ever be able to meet Makkachin, it’s unlikely considering he’d have to go to Viktor’s house. Still, if they continue being Skating Buddies and by extension friends, would that give him an invite? Or would he have to be something more to meet his dog? _Stop! Don’t even think about it!_

As they continue to talk, the conversation topic deviates from Viktor’s dog and they end up talking about the weirdest things, such as, how Yuuri’s noticed that Viktor’s accent fades or strengthens depending on the time of day.

“Let’s play a game!” He hears Phichit holler from across the room.

“What game?” He hears JJ ask. Considering it’s his party, Yuuri figures he should be more worried.

“Wellllll,” Phichit slurs, he pulls up a bottle. “I just downed this bottle… So, let’s play SPIN THE BOTTLE!”

The group around Phichit- consisting of Mila and Chris- immediately cheer in response, all three of them are rosy-cheeked and looking drunk. It’s obvious no one’s bound to agree except for the three of them; looking around Yuuri notices that, Otabek has the same disinterested face he always has, Seung-Gil has a bland face on with a hint of mild disgust, JJ looks the kind of amused you look around children and Viktor is laughing at Chris.

“Yuuri~” Phichit coos and Yuuri knows he’s doomed.

“I’m not playing, Phichit,” he attempts.

“Yuuri~”

“I’m not-“

“Yuuri~

Yuuri sighs and runs a hand over his face and joins the trio as they cheer for him. Phichit directs him so he’s sitting right next to him. There’s a gross discarded cup in front of him but given that the three of them all look drunk out of their minds, he assumes it’s one of theirs and ignores it. And as if all they needed as the trust of one sober partygoer, the rest of the group in the room flock towards the game, even -somehow- Seung-Gil.

Yuuri notes delightedly that Viktor has chosen to sit next to him. While he doesn’t really want to think about it, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want Viktor’s spin to land on him or vice versa. Throughout their skating sessions, he’s managed to notice that Viktor has really nice, soft-looking lips that he wouldn’t really mind kissing if the opportunity came up. But, considering it would never happen in real life, Yuuri supposes the only kiss he’ll get from Viktor is due to a party game. He shakes his head, _I’m getting over Viktor, remember?_

_I wonder if my Mystery Man is in this circle,_ he finds himself thinking as everyone settles down, he taps the side of his head for thinking it- he’s supposed to be getting over Viktor and his Mystery Man.

Phichit begins, “So, Vik-“

“I’m going first!” Chris announces and before anyone can stop him, he spins the bottle. It goes around once, twice, three times before pointing to Yuuri. Yuuri goes red in the face, he’d been too busy thinking about kissing Viktor that he’d forgotten the possibility of kissing others and suddenly- now that he has to- the embarrassment of kissing others is catching up to him.

Chris begins to lean over the bottle to kiss him, so Yuuri mirrors him- he has to, it’s the game that he agreed to play. As he leans in for the kiss he ponders on the possibility of Viktor hoping that he was Chris. He pushes it out of his mind and kisses Chris.

It’s a nice kiss, Yuuri decides, but that’s hardly surprising. Chris is doing all the work and if Yuuri ignores the taste of alcohol on his breath, Chris might be the best kisser he’s kissed. They pull away soon after they start though and Yuuri makes a mental note that while Chris is a great kisser, their kiss is nothing like the kisses he had with his Mystery Man. There’s no heat and more importantly, no spark. Not that Yuuri’s comparing the two kisses, though.

They sit down and Phichit speaks up again, “Okay! Now, V-“

Mila’s hand makes a thud noise as it lands on the bottle and with an extravagant flick, she spins it. Once again, the bottle spins for a few rounds before landing on Yuuri. _Again?_ He thinks, beginning to feel something off about the game.

“Yuuri! Come over here!” Mila giggles.

In a déjà vu moment, Yuuri leans over the circle and meets Mila halfway. They kiss for a few moments but it’s sloppy; in that, their teeth clack and their heads bump and he’s pretty sure she’s so drunk she can’t register anything that’s happening. Yuuri winces at the hangover she’s bound to have.

They break apart and sit back down, Mila with a giddy smile and Yuuri with a heat on his face that is bound to stay there until the end of the game.

Phichit tries once more to speak but is once again interrupted by someone else’s hand on the bottle. Chris and Mila are sitting next to each other, so Otabek, naturally assumes it’s his turn to spin- being the person next to Mila in clockwise order. So, ignoring anything Phichit might have to say, he spins the bottle.

Yuuri watches it go around the circle like it had in the two preceding rounds before it lands on him for the third time in three rounds.

While Yuuri has nothing against Otabek, he has a suspicion that if word of him kissing Otabek got out, he’d have a hostile Russian skater on his trail wherever he went, ready to attack him at any moment.

Furthermore, he finds it too unplanned that the bottle has just somehow managed to land on him three times in a row. Then, with furrowed brows, he glances downwards only to see the discarded cup he thought had been nothing. He picks up the cup, only to find that there’s a small magnet lying at the bottom. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he picks up the bottle to find another magnet on the inside of it.

Red to his ears in embarrassment, he stands up and walks out of the room; he ignores Phichit’s distressed, “Wait!”

He continues until he reaches the lawn by the front of the house and he sits down, not knowing why he was so embarrassed. Ultimately, he kissed more than enough people to have ruined a prank. Also, half the people in that circle are drunk enough to forget the game by morning. Of course, he could be embarrassed through a mix of his anxiety and having been the victim of a prank; yet, as he picks grass from the lawn of JJ’s house, he feels that the pool of embarrassment swirling in his stomach doesn’t feel like his anxiety or being pranked.

“Yuuri!” Phichit calls, as he runs to sit by him. Yuuri can tell he’s still drunk beyond belief so he’s automatically forgiven him. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just thought it would be a good opportunity for you to kiss Viktor!”

“Phichit-“ Yuuri warns, the feeling of shame growing.

“I know! I’m sorry! I just thought that maybe if you kissed him you’d have closure.”

Yuuri sighs loudly, “Thank you, Phichit but it was also my fault. I should’ve remembered you get matchmake-y when drunk.”

Yuuri stands and wipes off his trousers. From the look of Phichit, he’s near tears and will probably pass out soon. Quickly, he decides it’s probably best he take him home. “Phichit, I’m going to take you home, okay?”

Yuuri’s beginning to help him up when Phichit starts resisting, “No! I have to say goodbye to everyone!”

Yuuri grumbles before helping him back inside to the living room, despite his ever-growing whirlpool of embarrassment.

As soon as they trudge into the living room, Phichit runs to hug Mila and Chris. “I’m taking Phichit home,” Yuuri announces, “He just wanted to say goodbye.”

While he waits for Phichit, he notices that the spin the bottle game has been abandoned but the group is still sitting there. Phichit, having noticed this as well, goes around the circle and hugs everyone as if it’s his last chance to do so. Before he has the chance to hug him, Viktor stands up and makes his way towards Yuuri; the latter feels a blush on his cheeks and looks away from him.

“Are you okay? You walked out pretty quickly,” he says.

“Yeah, I was just shocked.”

“Me too,” Viktor seems like he’s about to say something else but decides against it, instead he smiles brightly. “Well, good night, Yuuri. Sorry about the game.”

“It’s fine,” he replies and as Viktor turns to comply with Phichit’s beckoning calls he happens upon the realisation that he isn’t embarrassed anymore. A nauseous feeling forms in his stomach as he pieces together the simple fact that he was embarrassed because Viktor had been there, he’d seen the whole thing in person. Yuuri had been worried about what he’d think of him kissing so many people in such a short time, game or not. He thinks back to every Skating Buddies session they’ve had and he feels stupid for not realising how hyper aware and conscious of Viktor he’d been. It’s terrifying how much he’d been unknowingly ignoring.

His thoughts are interrupted by a loud, “OOOOOH!” coming from the spin the bottle group. Immediately, without a shred of doubt, he knows it’s because of Phichit and as he approaches and spots him, his mouth can’t help but form an unbelieving, “Oh my god.”

Phichit had, unknowingly, been going around the circle in an order that would make Seung-Gil the last he’d interact with. Upon doing so, he had been shocked enough and drunk enough to let go of his anger (and his inhibitions). Now, he’s sitting on the Korean man’s lap, his arms wrapped around his neck and his lips on his. Yuuri knows he should be taking some sort of action to stop it, considering how uncomfortable the man Phichit is kissing looks.

He taps Phichit’s shoulder and is surprised to find he pulls away from the kiss to whisper something in the other man’s ear while sliding off his lap with a giggle. Seung-Gil looks thoroughly shocked and dishevelled, whereas Phichit seems revitalised. “Yuuri~” Phichit coos as they walk away, “I made out with the Good-Looking Korean Guy.”

“I know, I saw.”

Phichit continues repeating that he kissed Seung-Gil all the way back to his frat house and only as Yuuri helps him to his room and gets him into his bed does he say something else. “You were looking at Viktor differently tonight, you know,” is what he whispers to Yuuri just as he’s about to leave.

“Oh really, how so?” Yuuri asks, Phichit’s drunk and about to fall asleep so Yuuri assumes what he’s about to say will make no sense.

“You were looking at him like you were in love.”

It should make no sense, it should be incoherent, it should be all sorts of idiotic but instead, it turns his whole world upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't miss this week's edition of: I Torment My Readers With How Oblivious The Characters Are.   
> No but seriously, sorry. Some good (and bad) news is that we have three chapters left so their bound to get together by then, right? Right?  
> This chapter is named after Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's Dream A Little Dream and although I chose that song I had been thinking about maybe using Moon River by Frank Sinatra. In the end, I found Dream A Little Dream worked better.  
> Thank you for all your bookmarks and kudos! Also thank you for your comments and I'm sorry if I didn't respond! Just know that I read it and I appreciate all the kind words you all give me.  
> If you want to scream about Yuri!!! on ICE with me or if you just want to say hi, my tumblr is fandompowerpoints.  
> Until Next Time!


	6. I Can't Help Falling in Love with You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s only after they turn their heads, walk back to the car and are driving back to the campus that Yuuri begins to wonder, 'Was that a date?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So would you look at that, I'm alive. I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out but I think after all the time it took it turned out okay (and I am so sorry if it didn't).
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoy it!

Phichit’s nursing a cup of coffee like his life depends on it when Yuuri meets him Saturday afternoon in the cafeteria. The first thing he notices when he sees him are the obnoxious round sunglasses he wears and the earphones that he realises, soon after sitting down, aren’t plugged into anything. It takes everything in him not to laugh. Even so, Yuuri feels a little guilty. Phichit-even with the items he’s used to cover up- looks like he’s been hit by a bus.

With a huff, Yuuri sits down opposite him, “You shouldn’t really drink at parties, Phichit.”

Phichit smiles at him weakly, “There’s no other way to party, Yuuri.”

Neither Yuuri nor Phichit look convinced by the latter’s statement.

“Anyway, Yuuri, I need your help,” Phichit reminds softly. He texted Yuuri as he’d been studying asking him to meet him in the cafeteria and that it was urgent.

“Sure, but let’s maybe go somewhere quieter,” Yuuri suggests. Phichit’s wincing whenever someone else so much as steps loudly, so the suggestion comes as if it were second nature. He looks at him so gratefully, Yuuri’s worried Phichit will start praying at his feet.

Yuuri thinks over the layout of the college campus and tries to remember the secluded areas where one could sit and talk without being disturbed. The first thing that comes to Yuuri’s mind is, quite obviously, the library; but it’s quickly ruled out, considering you can’t particularly chat in the library or do anything else that Phichit might consider ‘urgent’. He checks his watch when the benches in the halls come to mind, but due to it being early afternoon, there’s no chance of them getting some quiet as people run around handing in assignments. With a start, he remembers that the university’s football team is at an away game that day so, apart from casual players, the pitch should be empty and quiet.

He tells Phichit about where he’s thinking of heading and he nods feebly.

As he begins leading Phichit towards the benches, he feels a small feeling of betrayal in the pit of his stomach. While the benches are available for public use, no one’s seemed to ever notice or use them; so, over time, Yuuri had begun to consider them his and Yuko’s place. They’d spent many days there, mainly going over gossip and crushes- the majority of such talk being-Yuuri thinks with a laugh- Nishigori and Viktor.

But as she isn’t with them and Phichit is in desperate need of some quiet, he forces himself to ignore the feeling and sits down beside him once they reach a bench.

“So, what is it you need my help with?” Yuuri asks as Phichit takes in his surroundings. Yuuri’s looking around too, it’s been so long since he’s been there because he only goes with Yuko, who’s been rather distant lately…

It’s always prettier than he remembers it being, a large tree’s branches hang high above their heads, all the leaves- save one or two on select branches- have fallen off and frosty grass surrounds the dark brown bench. Pieced with the empty pitch, the area gives off a tranquil quiet which makes Yuuri feel relaxed and peaceful. He’s hoping Phichit feels the same, despite his emergency.

“Right. So, when I woke up this morning, my brain was a mess but there are some really weird things and I can’t tell whether they’re dreams or not,” Phichit babbles.

“Okay…” Yuuri mumbles as Phichit burrows into his red scarf.

Phichit gulps, “Chris, Mila and I, all got drunk together.”

“Actually happened.”

“We drank a whole bottle of tequila and used it for a game of spin the bottle.”

“Actually happened.”

“Oh no… I didn’t…?”

“You rigged the bottle so it would land on me every time.”

Phichit groans and buries his face in his hands. “Yuuri! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine. You were drunk,” Yuuri tries for a sympathetic smile.

Phichit hugs him and Yuuri returns the hug. “How’d I get such a great best friend?”

“I think I should be asking you that.”

Phichit looks like he’s about to argue but instead, rearranges his cat-ear hat like he’s saving the topic for another day, “Saying goodbye to everyone while sobbing?”

“Yep. Actually happened.”

“Oh,” he says and he goes red in the face. Yuuri knows what he’s about to ask about and he can’t stop a little smile from forming itself on his lips.

“Yes?”

“Did I… Was the Good-Looking Korean guy at the party?”

“Seung-Gil was at the party,” Yuuri rubs his hands together, in either anticipation or the cold he can’t decide.

Phichit takes a breath. “Did I make out with him?”

“You definitely tried.”

Phichit moans and his hands go to his face again, “You’re not messing with me?”

“No, you were full on kissing him,” Yuuri replies, laughing lightly at his friend’s embarrassment.

“Kill me now,” he whines as he slumps against the back of the bench. There’s a beat of silence as Phichit removes his hands and asks softly, “Was he kissing me back?”

“What?” Yuuri asks cheekily, he doesn’t know how but he’s been expecting that question. He feels like they’ve switched roles, usually, Phichit’s the one who’s smirking at Yuuri’s love life. It’s a refreshing change.

“Ugh, stupid Good-Looking people who make me kiss them,” he hears Phichit moan into his hands.

“Actually, he didn’t make you kiss him,” Yuuri smirks.

Phichit glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He grunts, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Slightly.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying the end of my life as we speak. I’ll never be able to go to another party. I’ll never be able to drink again-“

“That’s a good thing.”

“I’ll never be able to go to another Media Studies class,” Phichit gasps, then winces- as if his embarrassment had made him forget his hangover. “Yuuri! I’ll never be able to go to another class! I’ll run into him in the hallways! How did my life turn into such a crap show?!”

“I think you’re being slightly overdramatic.”

As Phichit continues to list the things he’ll never be able to do again, folding in on himself until he resembles a sailor’s knot, Yuuri’s phone buzzes. He takes it out of his coat pocket and sees he’s gotten a text from Chris. He’d added him as a contact just before the party so he could text him when he’d arrived; he’d never been able to, though, Phichit had been with him and he could text for the both of them.

The text reads: _where u @?_

Yuuri pulls off one of his black gloves: _by the pitch. Phichit’s having a crisis._

He gets a text soon after, _same. Yurio’s coming 2, tht cool?_

Yuuri huffs and types a _sure._ After all, it’s not like he can just outright say no to Yurio joining them. He’ll be honest with himself and say he doesn’t particularly like Yurio, especially after their first meeting. As much as he’s tried to ignore being called a ‘pig’ it still stings, he’s always been sensitive about his weight, it being a major reason he gave up skating.

He shakes his head, given how close he and Viktor are getting, Yurio is bound to be around him a lot. He needs to get used to him and his colourful comments. So, with a deep breath, he hopes that Yurio will be kinder in future meetings and he tries to calm himself at having to be in the Young Russian’s presence. He turns to Phichit who seems to be trying to fold in on himself.

By the time Chris and Yurio arrive, Phichit is, thankfully, sitting normally, albeit moaning about how his life is over. Chris sits next to Phichit immediately and pats his shoulder reassuringly and almost knowingly. When Yuuri addresses him with a raised eyebrow, he shrugs and explains, “I tend to kiss people when I’m drunk too.”

Chris himself is also sporting a pair of obnoxious sunglasses and he looks fairly run down, not as bad as Phichit though.

Yurio, on the other hand, seems pretty much the same as usual; in that, his face arranged in a permanent frown and his hand shoved so angrily in his pockets the seaming is wearing away.

“I can’t believe those two got so drunk,” he mutters and it takes a few moments for Yuuri to realise that he’s addressing him.

“Yeah, Phichit promised me he’d only have one drink,” Yuuri replies and almost double-takes at the laugh that escapes Yurio’s mouth. After a moment, Yuuri laughs himself and soon everyone’s laughing except Phichit.

“Mean,” Phichit whimpers.

“That’s why I didn’t go,” Yurio says once he’s stopped laughing.

“Don’t lie, you only didn’t go because it was JJ’s party,” Chris states matter-of-factly. Then, he smirks and Yuuri feels his stomach drop at what he thinks he’s about to say. “If only you’d come, though, you could’ve kissed Otabek.”

Yurio turns to face him with wide-eyes and opens his mouth to retort but it promptly interrupted.

“You didn’t even have to get drunk ‘cus when played spin the bottle,” Chris continues.

It’s almost scary, Yuuri finds, how Chris knows what Yurio’s going to say next.

Yurio seems to go to war with himself as flashes of different emotions make their way onto his face. When he opens his mouth to speak once again, Yuuri suspects it’s asking more about the game (“You couldn’t have told me that on the way here?” “Who did Otabek kiss?” “Did _you_ organise it?”) but he never gets the chance as Phichit lets out a squeal and curls in on himself.

Everyone turns to him and he explains although his words are muffled beyond recognition. Yuuri looks up as Yurio tells him to repeat himself and spots none other than Seung-Gil off to the side of the pitch, reading. He’s sitting a few benches dressed unnaturally stylishly considering its winter and his breath coming out in swirls of steam. How long he’s been there, Yuuri isn’t sure of. How he hasn’t noticed them Yuuri isn’t sure of either.

Yuuri points him out to Chris and Yurio and Chris hands his coffee to Yurio and begins walking towards him. Phichit looks up and grabs Chris’s wrist. “What are you doing?” he hisses.

Chris just winks in response and continues walking towards the Korean.

They all watch with baited breath as Chris stops in front of him and makes delightful conversation- or what seems as such from Chris’s end- until he gestures back towards the group (Phichit turns and hides his face behind his hand) and pulls out his phone, to which Seung-Gil types something. Chris is smiling at him as he waves goodbye and walks away.

Phichit screeches when he returns, “What did you do?”

“I got you his number,” Chris replies.

Surprised, Yuri and Phichit’s mouths’ hang open in a moment of awed silence. Yuuri too, is silent, he knew Chris was something of a playboy but he didn’t know he was _that_ smooth. Chris smirks at the response and passes his phone, still open at Seung-Gil’s contact information, to Phichit.

Phichit shakes his head and asks in a whisper, “How?”

Chris just shrugs noncommittedly.

Yuuri looks at Seung-Gil, he’s still sitting in the same spot but he views them with a watchful gaze and a dusting of pink on his pale cheeks. He turns away quickly a few moments after when he sees Yuuri watching him.

Phichit, seemingly having a brain meltdown, types the number into his phone with a disbelieving look in his eyes, as if he doesn’t believe what’s actually happening.

It’s only after he types in the number and they begin walking back to the cafeteria that Phichit asks suddenly, “Did he know it was me who wanted his number?”

To which Chris laughs and replies, “He would only give me his number once I told him I was going to give it to you.”

***

They spend quite a while at the cafeteria, Chris also wants to go over what he remembers and Yurio wanted to eat something that wasn’t ‘complete horseshit’ and by that he apparently meant not something made by either Chris or Viktor.

All throughout their time there, Yuuri is tempted to ask about Viktor, why hadn’t he come along with them if he was perfectly fine? Why wasn’t he with them at that moment? He never did ask, though, because he knew he’d get a knowing glance from all of them before they answered and he got enough of those from Phichit.

Mila joins them about halfway through and she looks far worse than Phichit or Chris; her usually coiffed red hair is now a bird’s nest, her eyes- while covered in a pair of ray bans- still have visible dark bags and her makeup sits a little messily on her face, the same a mother’s makeup would look if her five-year-old had done it for her. She assesses the gathered group and asks hoarsely, “Where’s Viktor?”

“He decided to sleep in,” Yurio replies and Yuuri feels a sigh of relief escape his lips.

Mila collapses into the chair next to Yuuri’s with a whispered wail before tucking her head in between her arms.

Yuuri automatically pats her back softly, he remembers mornings where he’s done the same to his sister when she was hungover. And she had been hungover many, many times.

Mila turns her head to face him and Yuuri pulls his hand back with a start, realising that Mila is not his sister. “Sorry,” he squeaks and she winces.

“It’s fine,” she croaks. “It was… nice actually.”

“Oh,” Yuuri mutters and brings his hand to her back to begin faintly tracing circles on it similarly to what he’d been doing before.

After a few minutes of doing this, Mila seems to unwind and even goes so far as to grumble, “Viktor promised me that he’d help me when I had issues like this.”

“Like this?” Phichit prompts, it’s only now that he sees Mila that he notices how much better Phichit has gotten in the space of a few hours. He’s gone so far as to take his sunglasses off- he still has dark bags, though.

She gestures to her face, “I can never do my makeup when I’m hungover.”

“And Viktor usually does it when this happens?” Phichit asks.

Mila nods.

A small idea blossoms in Yuuri’s head. It’s ridiculous, really, because she’s an acquaintance and he’s not sure he’d be as good as Viktor at anything. _Who would want something from me if they knew so little about me?_ He thinks.

She moans, “What if I run into Sara?”

“Who’s Sara?” Yuuri asks.

“She’s just the girl Mila’s had a crush on for ages,” Chris explains.

As if the last statement was all he needed, Yuuri turns to Mila and offers, “I can do your makeup for you. I mean, it probably won’t be as good as when Viktor does it but I can still do it.”

Mila looks at him almost sceptically before nodding, “Just don’t make me look like trash.”

Mila brings him to her car, which Yuuri doesn’t want to describe in any other way than well-loved and inside its mauve trunk there’s a sizeable bag of makeup. She pops open the boot and she ducks inside, inviting Yuuri in after her and sitting in a way that makes them face each other.

She tells him what she wants to be done as she wipes all the previous makeup off with a makeup remover wipe and throws it with no particular aim. Nodding as she tells him, he looks through the bag and places certain containers in front of him.

Once she’s done talking, he begins and in concentration, he doesn’t notice the seemingly awkward silence that settles over them. But as time passes, Mila begins to get curious and she starts asking him questions, “Where did you learn to do this?”

“I had to do my own makeup for figure skating competitions in high school,” he answers curtly.

“Ah,” she mumbles in what seems to Yuuri as some sort of sign of respect. Which, from Mila, is absurd. Similar to Yurio, Mila is often seen as tough- especially since she’s able to lift people over her head. Yuuri would never admit it, but he’s always had a far-off fear of her.

“Viktor told me the same thing,” Mila says after a while, her voice soft. “but I don’t really believe it.”

Yuuri rubs some foundation into her forehead as he asks, voice equally as soft, “What do you mean?”

Mila laughs slightly, “Well, whenever he does my makeup, he’s always very concentrated and… enthusiastic.” She’s silent for a moment more before continuing. “I just think that he likes the process of putting on makeup, you know?”

 _I don’t know,_ he almost says but then stops himself, the doubt he feels upon thinking that sentence is heavy in his stomach and he forces himself to rethink it. After all, maybe he does like makeup but more subtly and in a subdued manner. He does remember a few times where he asked if he could his sister’s makeup and even his mother’s. Also, how could he not like putting on makeup if he was sat there facing Mila and applying her makeup for her?

“I know,” he settles on eventually.

She nods with a faint smile playing at the edges of her lips.

***

It takes some time for Yuuri to finish her makeup but when he does, she loves it. After looking at herself in the mirror Mila hugs him and assures him that she would squeal with joy if it weren’t for her hangover. Yuuri doesn’t know whether to take her overwhelming joy and her repeated, “You didn’t mess up!” as a compliment or not.

After she calms down slightly, her phone vibrates with an incoming call from Viktor and she rushes to answer it. Yuuri only hears one side of the conversation but from what he can tell, Viktor’s worried about Mila’s makeup issue and attempts to remedy it by telling her he’ll be there soon.

Mila assures him it’s fine and offers to meet up with him and the others in the cafeteria as soon as she can (with Yuuri in tow, of course).

After putting all the makeup back in the bag, Yuuri and Mila exit the purple car and begin walking back to the cafeteria. As they talk about the Other Yuri (“But isn’t it sort of adorable when he’s bratty?”), they walk past Nishigori and Yuko sitting on a bench and holding hands. It all looks very sweet and Yuuri diverts his eyes quickly in order to give them privacy. Nonetheless, Yuko seems to notice him and jumps out of her seat to greet him with a loud, “Yuuuuri!”

As much as Yuuri has missed her, he feels the need to run away; he doesn’t, of course, but his feet still to itch with the desire to do so. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around,” she apologises.

“You’ve missed a lot,” Yuuri replies in an almost sombre tone.

“You’ll have to catch me up!” She responds brightly. As if just noticing Mila, she goes to shake her hand with a dazzling smile, “I’m Yuko, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Mila,” Mila smiles, taking her hand in hers.

“Yuuri can I talk to you alone?” Yuko speaks to Yuuri as she and Mila let go of each other’s hands.

“Yeah, sure,” he responds. Turning to Mila, he smiles, “Go ahead of me, I’ll be right behind you.”

Mila nods and waves, beginning to walk away.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Yuuri asks, turning to Yuko.

A smile breaks out onto her face and her eyes sparkle with curiosity, “I was just wondering how the search for your Mystery Man was going?”

Yuuri’s throat feels strangled and his stomach drops as he answers, “Great.”

“That’s amazing!” she beams. “Have you narrowed down the list?”

“Yes! Only two names left,” he lies, he threw the list away when he gave up. He thinks of it now, crumpled up and forgotten at the bottom of his wastebasket.

Yuko beams and opens her mouth to say something else but Yuuri interrupts her. “I’m sorry but I have to go. We can talk about this later?”

She clasps onto his hand. “Definitely.”

Yuuri knows that Yuko assumes he’s going the same direction Mila does, so he walks towards the cafeteria until the path diverges and he doesn’t feel her gaze trailing him. Turning right rather than left, Yuuri walks towards his dorm, continually picking up speed as he runs towards it and, once he reaches it, throwing open the main door. He continues running up the stairs as he feels hot, frustrated tears run down his face. _Why does it affect you so much?_ He asks himself as he fumbles with his lock.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” He yells to himself as the lock clicks and he enters his room.  A searing feeling of guilt has been building up with every step and now he’s covered in it, it’s oozing out of him.

He should have told her the truth. He should have told her he wasn’t looking for him anymore. So, why didn’t he? Does he still want to find him? Yes, he does but he doesn’t want to look for him anymore. Does he feel guilty for letting him go? Is he angry he gave up so easily? Doesn’t he want to admit he’s weak enough to give up on love?

He stomps towards his closet and flings open its wooden doors, pulling out the sports bag he’s looking for and retracing his steps until he’s out of the dorm.

As much as he’d like to wallow and cry, all while being holed up in his room, he knows that he should do something with his frustrated energy so he doesn’t end up throwing things or crying too loudly. The first thing that comes to mind was skating.

Arriving at the skating rink, Yuuri roughly pulls on his skates and ties the lace so hard the skates bite into his lower calf and his ankles. _Good,_ he thinks as he steps onto the ice. He finds it distracts him from the guilt.

Thankfully, the rink is empty. Yuuri ignores the pounding of his head and begins skating circles around the rink. Once he’s picked up enough speed, he decides to do a jump; but Yuuri, despite being irritated beyond reason, is logical enough to know that attempting something like a quad while deep in thought is a bad move. So, he takes off for a triple toe loop only for his footing to be off and for his shoulder to hit the ice painfully. Nevertheless, he gets up quickly and begins to skate in circles again. This time, when he takes off he elects to do a double, after all, who would ever flub a double?

 _Me apparently,_ he thinks sarcastically as he comes out of his landing and he feels his jaw collide with the ice. The pain shoots up from his teeth to his temple the same way a set of serial explosions go off. He tastes metal in his mouth and hisses at the bite he’s made on his left cheek.

 It’s only after he attempts to sit up on the ice, however, that he realises someone had gasped and that person is currently running onto the ice- in their normal shoes- to help him up.

He observes the pale hands that latch onto his shoulder and trail up the coat-clad arms to find himself meeting familiar blue eyes that are flooded with worry.

“Viktor,” he breathes.

Either having not heard the utterance of his name or ignoring it, the silver-haired man wobbly brings Yuuri to his feet with a nervous, “Are you okay?”

Yuuri nods inattentively, utterly transfixed by the emotion in the other man’s eyes.

“Did you break anything?” He asks.

“No,” Yuuri says finally. “My shoulder and my jaw hurt, though.”

Viktor stops breathing for a moment. “I have to take you to the hospital,” he announces and begins dragging him out of the rink.

“Viktor,” Yuuri begins, “I’m fine.”

Viktor drags him out of the rink, ignoring the stumbling Yuuri is challenged with as he walks on the concrete floor of the rink. “Viktor,” Yuuri repeats, slightly louder. Viktor still ignores him.

“Viktor!” Yuuri practically shouts. The Russian stops and turns to face him, a look of shock painted visibly on his face. “I’m fine.”

Yuuri walks off; the frustration in him, while slightly faded, still burns in his stomach. He wants to continue skating but he has the impression that if he does Viktor will stop him.

Freeing himself from the shock Viktor storms over to him, “What were you doing, skating like that?”

Yuuri doesn’t turn when he says, “Like what?”

“Why were you skating if you were messing up your jumps?”

Yuuri turns to Viktor, a snarl slowly forming on his face. He doesn’t like Viktor’s condescending tone, especially. Sure he’s a professional, but Yuuri’s been skating his whole life. “You don’t know if I was messing up _all_ my jumps.”

Viktor, taken aback by Yuuri’s acidic tone, takes a few beats to ask, “Were you?”

“So, what if I was?” Yuuri replies. Viktor doesn’t look angry but more, sad. It’s shocking, so much so Yuuri forces himself to calm down. He wants to say sorry, he should; but he can’t bring himself to do it.

“What is this about, Yuuri?” Viktor asks.

Yuuri furrows his brows in an attempt to find an answer that isn’t along the lines of, ‘I kissed this random guy at a party and it’s been messing me up.’

“Nothing,” Yuuri grumbles.

Viktor gives him an unconvincing look. “I’ve never seen you angry, Yuuri. What is it?”

Yuuri directs his attention to a spot off on the far wall and says nothing, shame taking guilt’s all-consuming role.

Viktor sighs, “Do you want to get something to eat?”

“What?” Yuuri asks, bewildered, his head flicking back to face Viktor.

“I didn’t really have lunch… or breakfast, actually, and I’m starving.”

Yuuri’s going to say no, he doesn’t feel like he should be around people, let alone Viktor, just as his stomach grumbles.

Viktor laughs, only stopping to say, “Is that a yes?”

Begrudgingly, Yuuri agrees.

***

In the passenger seat of Viktor’s fancy car with the radio softly playing euro pop and Viktor humming along, Yuuri knows he has to say or do something to make it less awkward. Viktor hasn’t spoken to him since he directed him to the car and Yuuri feels like he could cut the tension between them like a knife. He swallows before taking a breath and apologising, “Sorry. For snapping at you… I just have a lot on my mind.”

Viktor gaze flits to him briefly before turning his attention back towards the road. “I’m sure,” he hums. Even with Viktor’s cryptic answer, the tension around them melts ever so slightly.

Yuuri stomach grumbles again and he asks, “Where are we going?”

Viktor grins, “It’s a surprise.”

Yuuri has never been too fond of surprises but he can’t exactly say no to Viktor, so he sits back in his seat and turns the music up slightly.

Viktor parks on the sidewalk of a park a few minutes’ drive away from campus. Yuuri exits the car as his companion inquires, “Have you ever visited this park before, Yuuri?”

Yuuri’s never really left the campus before so he shakes his head.

A heart-shaped smile appears on his face as he beams, “Wonderful!”

 _I don’t know how that’s wonderful,_ Yuuri thinks but follows Viktor as he expertly makes his way around the park.

They’re still not talking properly and it makes him feel funny. He doesn’t like not talking to Viktor but he doesn’t want to tell him what’s wrong either. He doesn’t even know if it’s because he hasn’t told him anything that Viktor’s not talking. He could be silent due to the concentration of trying to find his way around.

As Yuuri continues his inner monologue, Viktor stops in front of a hot dog stand and orders two plain hot dogs. The man running the hot dog stall smiles at him familiarly and asks how he’s been doing. It makes Yuuri think, _I didn’t know he came here often enough to be a familiar face. What else don’t I know about him?_ Paying the man, he passes one of the hot dogs to Yuuri. “I could’ve paid for mine,” Yuuri says indignantly.

Viktor just waves him off with a, “My treat.”

A silence settles between them and Yuuri cannot stand it. He feels guilt gnawing at his stomach and an uncomfortable ricochet in his heart. He frowns slightly as he thinks of what to say but when he tries to say something that could be classed as small talk, Victor answers noncommittedly and it’s enough for Yuuri to force himself to own up. “I’ve had a really weird… thing happened in my love life and I guess it just… overtook me? I don’t really know how to explain it,” he admits once he’s heard one too many, ‘I guess’s from Viktor.

Viktor seems shocked and a few moments later responds, “Thank you for telling me. You didn’t have to, though.”

It’s Yuuri’s turn to be shocked. “What do you mean? I thought you were being quiet _because_ I wasn’t telling you.”

“Yuuri,” Viktor begins, “I was happy just walking with you.”

Yuuri’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape and he becomes quiet. Unlike the last time, Yuuri finds this silence comfortable and they walk side by side down a pathway in between a long array of naked trees. It’s only when he feels the awkwardness completely dissipate, that he notices the beauty of the park- even in its bare winter state. On the trees, bright Christmas lights wind their way up tree trunks and branches, making the park burst with colour and light. There are also decorations made up of the Christmas lights that dot the areas amid the trees, his favourite is the small family of reindeer he spots next to a park bench.

When they finish their hot dogs, Viktor suggests they head back to the car, Yuuri impulsively replies with a simple, “No,” before realising he’s just snapped again. “I-I mean,” he begins, “I want to continue walking.”

Viktor’s way of responding is beaming a heart-shaped smile and half-skipping, half-walking down a path of his choosing.

They walk aimlessly, going down different paths and finding different things: a pond which sparkles like mercury; a flower garden (sadly empty due to winter) and a large expanse of green which fills him with a longing to return with Viktor during the day, picnic basket in tow. Yuuri’s not sure whether Viktor has a destination in mind and he finds he doesn’t care, a smile even making its way onto his face when he sees a sign pointing towards a boathouse.

His attention is drawn away now and again when their shoulders bump or when he feels Viktor’s hand ghosting his. It makes Yuuri jump each time and it takes everything in his power to restrain himself from grabbing onto Viktor’s hand. He looks over to Viktor now and again when he can’t help himself, there’s a little smile on his face, directed at the proximity of their hands.

Yuuri doesn’t know how long they spend like that because while the agonising touch ghosting his hand lasts for what seems like hours, the electricity of the touch makes it feel like it’s only been seconds.

After they find themselves back on the walkway they started off on, Viktor stops. Yuuri, only noticing after few seconds, stops as well. He looks back at the silver-haired skater and his brow furrows when he sees he’s lost in thought. Yuuri steps towards him, “Viktor?”

Viktor looks up, seemingly startled by Yuuri’s voice. He stares at him for a few moments before he relaxes into a smile and yawns, “I’m getting a little tired. Do you mind if we head back?”

Yuuri is melting at Viktor’s yawn. _How is it that everything this guy does can only be described as perfection?_ He thinks. He only manages a nod.

“I love it here,” he hears Viktor murmur when they’re side by side again. Viktor hasn’t been teasing his touch, Yuuri can’t decide whether he likes it or not.

Yuuri nods, “It’s beautiful.”

Viktor stops again at the park entrance, swinging the small gate open. There’s a brief moment, Yuuri can’t quite describe what happens- their eyes meet, Viktor’s eyes sparkling with something akin to happiness, and they hold each other’s gaze for a few seconds longer than necessary, Yuuri’s heart beats loud in his ears and a blush apparent on his cheeks; he doesn’t notice, though, he’s drowning in blue.

It’s only after they turn their heads, walk back to the car and are driving back to the campus that Yuuri begins to wonder, _Was that a date?_

After all, they ate, they talked, they almost held hands, they gazed into each other’s eyes and the setting could only be described as romantic. Also, Viktor had to have seen some sort of fondness or longing in Yuuri’s eyes when they stared at each other, right? _Right?_

So lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the car stopping by his door. Viktor turns to Yuuri, words of joy lost on his lips at Yuuri’s expression. “Yuuri?” he begins. Yuuri is unresponsive, frown furrowing his eyebrows as he does a figurative, ‘it was a date, it was not a date,’ with a figurative flower. Viktor leans over and places a tentative finger on Yuuri’s dark eyebrows and begins smoothing them slightly. Yuuri immediately comes to and jumps.

Viktor smiles at Yuuri’s shocked expression and announces, “We’re here.”

“O-oh,” Yuuri stammers, a forced smile making its way onto his face.

“I had fun tonight, Yuuri. Thank you,” Viktor smiles.

“You arranged it so thank you!” Yuuri attempts.

Viktor laughs. “I still enjoyed myself.”

“Me too,” Yuuri stays still, not sure if he should reach for the door. He curses his antisocial tendencies as he looks at Viktor, then away from Viktor. He continues this for a few seconds but his companion says nothing so he reaches for the door handle with an awkward wave and a, “Well bye.”

“And, Yuuri,” Viktor adds, hastily- almost… nervously.

“Yes?” Yuuri turns and Viktor brings his hand to Yuuri’s free one, bringing towards him and kissing his knuckles. It’s short, Viktor’s lips are only on his knuckles for a few seconds at most, but it leaves Yuuri’s heart in a craze and his mind in a daze.

“I hope your love life is on track soon,” He finishes.

Yuuri mumbles something that doesn’t sound intelligible or English. “Goodnight,” he manages before exiting the car.

“Goodnight,” Viktor replies as Yuuri shuts the door.

Yuuri watches him drive off before forcing himself up the stairs and into his dorm room. He flops on his bed as he wonders whether he just had an amazing night or an amazing dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was named after Elvis Presley's, I Can't Help Falling in Love with You. There was no question when I was planning this chapter that that song is what it should be named after.
> 
> Also, sorry again for it taking so long to update but I'm afraid I might have to do it again. See my next chapter ends in a cliffhanger and I know if I leave you guys hanging for five (I still can't believe it took me five weeks to write this) weeks I know you'll all want to stab me. 
> 
> But for now, I'll leave you with this chapter and a quick hint to go over the first chapter and spot anything that could be used to track Mystery Guy down.


	7. Something Stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn’t know where he got this confidence but he stares into Viktor’s shocked eyes with a smirk. He feels like Viktor forgot to kiss him last night, has been thinking it after he managed to calm down. After all, it seemed like he could just have easily leant in and kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! I'm alive and back with the shortest chapter you've ever known. So sorry about that.   
> Sorry I didn't reply to all your lovely comments, I really did mean to but I was prioritising on getting this chapter done.  
> Anyways! I hope you enjoy this chapter... I wonder if any of you were right about Mystery Guy's giveaway.

“You’re in early,” Viktor states as he walks towards the ice rink the next morning. As Yuuri turns to him, he notices the bright grin on his face- Yuuri’s been sporting the same one since he woke up.

“Good morning to you too,” Yuuri says in form of reply. To Yuuri, it doesn’t really feel like morning as he’s been up for a long while, the happiness boiling in his stomach forcing him awake. Not that he minded, he was happy to spend the morning skating.

Viktor laughs and Yuuri’s cheeks are growing warm, a pool of heat settling in his stomach. Yuuri skates up to where Viktor was leaning against the rink guards until they’re centimetres apart, so close that Yuuri can count his eyelashes and smell his sandalwood cologne. He doesn’t know where he got this confidence but he stares into Viktor’s shocked eyes with a smirk. He feels like Viktor forgot to kiss him last night, has been thinking it after he managed to calm down. After all, it seemed like he could just have easily leant in and kissed him.

_So… should_ I _kiss him?_ He thinks, his eyes darting down to his lips for the briefest of seconds, his confidence fading as he another question pops into his head, _If he wanted you to kiss him, wouldn’t he have kissed you last night?_ Hating his anxiety but finding himself agreeing, he pulls back and reverts to a smile as he asks, “So, what are we doing today?”

“Well,” Viktor begins, dragging out the word. Yuuri doesn’t miss the few seconds it takes for him to clear his throat and answer. “I was thinking I help you on your form.”

Yuuri’s brow furrows, smile dropping slightly. “My form?”

Viktor’s smile is still on the highest possible setting and Yuuri finds it forming on his own face, “Yeah!”

Viktor ties on his skates- smile still plastered to his face. It’s only as Yuuri’s observing him that he realises while he’s seen Viktor smile more times than he can count. He’s smiling… differently. It’s not that it’s fake or unnatural but it seems stronger somehow, which just makes Yuuri smile brighter. He’s smiling more brightly because of Yuuri and Yuuri can’t think of any greater compliment.

It makes him feel fuzzy inside, which he knows is a terrible thing to feel when Viktor is concerned; after all, Yuuri had been avoiding liking him due to the glaringly obvious fact that he was in love with someone else. But, after their date, Yuuri can’t help but feel like perhaps Viktor’s affections lie elsewhere.

“I still don’t get what you mean by ‘helping me on my form’” Yuuri says, making air quotations, as Viktor takes his first step onto the ice and skates up to him.

“You’re working on a routine, right?”

Yuuri nods. It’s a routine he came up with just for fun and has been practising now and again.

“I want to help you with the little details of your form,” there’s something akin to mischief on Viktor’s face and Yuuri feels like he should shudder. “Go through your routine.”

Yuuri takes a moment to look at him, head tilting and eyes squinting. He lets out a sigh, “Fine.”

Viktor replies with a heart-shaped smile.

“So how are we doing this?” Yuuri asks curiously.

“Go through your routine and I’ll stop you when I notice your form could be better.”

Yuuri nervously skates towards the centre of the rink before stopping and looking at Viktor curiously. He feels like something weird is about to happen but he doesn’t want to say anything; knowing Viktor, he’ll probably end up doing it anyway “You know I don’t compete anymore, right?” He asks eventually.

Viktor nods.

“So, there’s no real need to work on perfecting my form.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I feel like you’re being sarcastic.”

“Trust me, Yuuri. Even if this isn’t a serious routine, it’ll benefit you.”

Yuuri opens his mouth to grumble a retort.

“Come on, Yuuri!”

Yuuri looks back at him and his encouraging smile again and he just seems so excited that Yuuri doesn’t have the heart not to perform the routine. So, begrudgingly and slowly, he gets into starting position and begins the routine. Hearing the music coming in his head, Yuuri raises his arm and he turns outwards gracefully.

“Stop!” he hears Viktor yell and he jumps in place from shock. “Look at your legs! Really, Yuuri, you’re a mess.”

Yuuri frowns, this is literally his first move, he shouldn’t- no- doesn’t have anything wrong with his form. “My form is fine,” he mumbles as Viktor reaches him and crouches.

Ignoring him, Viktor brings his hand up to Yuuri’s left leg and gently pulls it so Yuuri is forced to straighten it. Yuuri tries his best but Viktor touching him and kneeling has his cheeks warming up and a heavy pool of warmth growing in his stomach. Even though Viktor’s let go, Yuuri can still feel the scalding touch of his hands on his legs. The Russian looks up at him and smiles, oblivious to burn he’s left on his leg. “There we go,” He says softly, getting back up onto his feet.

Yuuri forces himself to regain composure because after all, _he shouldn’t be freaking out over being touched on the leg._ “Y-you could’ve just told me to straighten my knee.”

“Oh yeah. I could’ve,” Viktor hums and all Yuuri can do is stare at him with his mouth wide open. “Okay! Continue.”

Yuuri continues but can’t get the simple questions of _Why is this happening?_ What _is happening?_ out of his head, he is thoroughly confused. He thought that maybe something would change between them after their date and while that has happened, it’s just weird. Nothing like the romantic gestures Yuuri may or may not have been expecting.

Viktor yells another stop a few minutes after, citing, “Your shoulders, Yuuri. I can’t believe you’re getting so sloppy.” He comes close and pushes both his shoulders back, “Remember, Yuuri, your chest should always be out.”

Then, just as Yuuri’s beginning to comprehend whatever is happening, _Viktor really is_ _just helping my form_. Viktor brings a finger up and trails a straight line from his right shoulder to the other. “This line should always have a bump.”

Yuuri’s too shocked to respond. _What just happened?_ He continues repeating. He looks at Viktor retreating figure in confusion and when their eyes meet Viktor smiles and shouts, “You can continue.” Despite the weirdness of it all, Yuuri finds he can still feel the searing line left across his chest. A combination of confusion and attraction leads him to nod once dumbly.

It’s only when Viktor stops him a third time, explaining that this time, “It was your back,” before using both hands to pull his back up that Yuuri realises what’s happening. It’s only then that Yuuri realises like a light bulb going off in his brain that something between them _has_ changed; Viktor was using skating as an excuse to feel him up.

Yuuri feels like he should be outraged by this discovery, as 1) Viktor is feeling him up and 2) He doesn’t even have the guts to admit it. He finds he doesn’t mind the first issue, as it means Viktor does actually like him but there’s something about the second one which irks him. Yuuri thinks it’s fairly obvious that he likes Viktor because, unsurprisingly Yuuri’s always had issues with being subtle and if he’s so obvious, why isn’t Viktor just outright asking him, ‘Wanna make out?’

As Viktor yells another stop, Yuuri feels all of these thoughts boil over. “It was your arms,” Viktor barely whispers once he’s close enough. Yuuri can’t see him as he stopped him in a position which meant Yuuri has his back to him. Yuuri, expecting Viktor to skate in front of him and fix his arms, screams in surprise when he feels Viktor’s chest pressed against his back.

Yuuri jumps out of his hold. “What are you doing?” Yuuri asks loudly.

“Helping you on your form,” Viktor answers casually, using the same excuse as earlier.

“Helping… Helping me on my form?” Yuuri repeats dumbly, lost at what to say. _Should I call him out on it?_

Viktor nods.

“There are easier ways to do all that then what you’ve been doing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and you know it.”

Viktor shrugs, “Do I though?” and Yuuri buries his face in his hands, _When did he get so irritating?_ He feels so done with this guy, why can’t Viktor just admit he’s into him? After all, it’s just them in the skating rink and if Yuuri’s been as obvious as he thinks he has then he shouldn’t be worried about Yuuri not reciprocating his feelings. _Well, I guess I’ll have to confess_ , Yuuri supposes, deciding to take the matter into his own hands. He blushes, thinking about what he’ll have to say next as he feels nerves build in his stomach. “Yuuri?” Viktor asks.

“Why can’t you admit it?” Yuuri forces himself to utter.

“Admit what?”

Yuuri takes a breath and moves his hands away from his face. “Admit that you were just feeling me up.”

“Wha-“

“There’s no other reason for you trailing a finger across my chest,” Yuuri copies the action against Viktor’s chest before jumping away at the unreadable look in Viktor’s eyes, “Or anything else you did just now.”

“Yuuri, I wasn’t feeling you up,” Viktor speaks after a moment.

“Really? What were you doing?”

“Yuuri…”

“Go on. Tell me.”

“I’m in love with someone else.”

The reminder seems to cause them both shock. Yuuri and Viktor both have their mouths hanging open, ever so slightly. It feels like someone dropped ice down his back and is falling down his spine until a pool of cold has settled at the back of his hips. Yuuri takes deep breaths, he doesn’t want to think about what happened in the cafeteria again, he doesn’t want it to happen again. He shakes his head, there’s _no_ way that what Viktor had been doing all morning wasn’t some indication that he liked him, there’s no other explanation. Shaking his head, he takes one look at Viktor and leans forwards to do what he’s been wanting to do ever since he arrived at the rink. He kisses Viktor.

But almost immediately after planting his lips on Viktor’s does he remember what Viktor had just said. _He just said he’s in love with someone else, what are you doing?_ He pulls away and looks at Viktor to see a stunned look had found itself onto his face. The reality of what he’d just done falls upon him and he takes a sharp breath, skating off the rink and hastily pulling his skates off.

He feels so stupid and idiotic. _Good old Yuuri,_ he finds himself thinking, _just going on and embarrassing yourself._

Viktor began to follow him, “Yuuri! Wait!”

But Yuuri was already running out of the rink, towards his dorm. “I’m sorry!” was all he could manage to shout back.

***

When he gets back to his dorm he forces himself not to cry and tries to focus on calling Phichit. But his eyes are blurry with newly formed tears and as he flicks through his recent phone calls he hopes the number that looked like Phichit’s is Phichit.

It takes one ring, then two before he hears, “Hello?” and it’s definitely not Phichit’s voice but he still recognises it.

“Yuko. Can you… come over?” He asks, holding back sobs.

“Yuuri! I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Yuko replies soothingly, hanging up.

And even though it was a mistake, even though he meant to call Phichit rather than Yuko, he’s glad he did it because right now, he really needs his old best friend. The one who really knows him and who hasn’t been around to be his old best friend.

She arrives a little later than expected but she’s excused because she ran to the store to get some Oreos. “What happened?” Is the first thing she asks.

Normally, Yuuri wouldn’t have told her until he calmed down but he needs to get it out. But given that she hasn’t been around, he recounts everything that’s been happening since she’s been gone, leading up to the kiss.

He hears a sniff and turns to see her reaching out for him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you!”

“It’s fine,” He says, muffled by the shoulder she forced into his face from hugging him.

“No, it’s not,” She says, pulling away from the hug to look him in the eyes. “I was so obsessed with finally dating Nishigori that I forgot about you. I’m sorry.”

He hugs her fiercely and mumbles into her shoulder. “You’re here now that’s all that matters.”

They hold onto each other for a few minutes, feeling comfort and love from one another before a loud buzzing forces them apart. “Sorry,” Yuko mutters but as she turns on her phone, her brows furrow. “It’s not mine.”

Yuuri picks his phone up from its place on the bed and sees Viktor’s bright heart-shaped smile on his phone. He lets it ring out on his bed. He doesn’t think he’s ready to talk to him, especially after what he’s done. After all, Viktor’s probably just calling him to ask him why he did something so stupid.

He sees Yuko’s sympathetic smile and stands. He’s so mad at how embarrassed he is about this and how obvious it was that Viktor _didn’t_ like him, so jarringly obvious that even Viktor had to remind him, ‘I’m in love with someone else’. He just wishes he didn’t kiss him.

Yuuri sits down on his desk chair after pacing around the room slightly.

His phone begins buzzing again.

“Maybe you should answer…” Yuko suggests but Yuuri doesn’t know if he wants to- he doesn’t know if he can.

“I think Viktor _does_ like you, Yuuri,” Yuko says after a few moments of silence, only interrupted by the buzzing of Yuuri’s phone.

Yuuri rolls his eyes and buries his head in his arms on the desk. “Yeah, right.”

Yuko stands, “No, seriously. He did all this nice stuff with you, he went out of his way to hang out with you. He took you out on a date, for god’s sake!”

“Yuko, that wasn’t a date. If it was he wouldn’t have mentioned being in love with someone else.”

Yuko falls back onto the bed and visibly deflates. She looks like how Yuuri feels like she’s given up hope. A few seconds later she sits up, “What if he was just keeping up appearances for the rumours?”

Yuuri looks at her quizzically, non-verbally asking her to continue.

“You know the whole thing where he announced he was in love in the cafeteria. What if he was just keeping that up?”

Yuuri grunts, it doesn’t sound like something Viktor would do.

“Yeah, even I’ll admit that’s a pretty shit idea.”

Yuuri makes a noise of agreement.

“You know rumours are the worst. There was one going around that I was part of the yakuza when we were in high school because of that scar I had on my eyebrow,” Yuko huffs, it makes Yuuri laugh. “Hey!” She snaps jokingly when she hears him laughing. “It’s not like you can say anything, you had one too-“

Yuuri snaps up and looks at her. “There was a rumour about me in high school?”

“No,” She begins, “Forget I said anything.”

“Yuko.”

She stays silent for a few minutes before looking up into his pleading eyes and sighing, “It wasn’t in high school. It was here.”

“Tell me,” Yuuri asks, curious. _After all, I’m a nerd who doesn’t do anything except skate and study so why would they say anything too bad?_

“I’m not sure…”

“Please?”

“No, it’s-“

“Yuko.”

“Fine,” Yuko takes a breath. “There was a rumour going around that you were in love with Viktor.”

_So,_ Yuuri thinks, _I had been that obvious._

But before Yuuri can ponder on his obvious actions any longer, he smiles a little to himself, even Yuuri the nerd who didn’t go to parties got himself a rumour. It reminds of Phichit, whenever he mentioned him, someone would always mention a rumour about him. Thinking of Phichit leads him to think about the party he met his Mystery Guy at, it seems so long ago that he’d gone to Phichit’s party and made out with someone in a closet. It’s kind of ridiculous now that he thinks about it, how he had a ‘spark’ with some random stranger he’d kissed in the dark. _If only Phichit wasn’t drunk I could be dating my Mystery Guy by now._ He laughs to himself as he remembers Phichit’s question that night, “Are the rumours true?”

Suddenly, his eyes widen and his chair tips a little too far back, crashing on the floor due to the revelation that just occurred. Suddenly, everything makes sense: Viktor disappearing from the party when Yuuri did, Viktor also being at Phichit’s the next morning, Viktor being in love with someone else… the sandalwood cologne. He grabs his phone off the bed hurriedly just as Yuko’s asking if he’s okay, he nods and opens his contacts. Scrolling through his contacts, he finds Phichit’s number and calls. Ignoring Yuko’s questions, he waits for Phichit to pick up. “Hey, Yuuri!”

“Did you know about the rumour that I liked Viktor?”

“Yuuri?”

“Did you?” He asks, pulling the phone away so he can put it on speaker, allowing Yuko to hear and understand why he’s suddenly started acting weirdly.

“Yeah… I did but that was before I knew if it was true or not,” he hears Phichit gasp. “Oh my god! At the party, when I was drunk, I asked you if the rumours were true…”

Yuko seemingly having caught on as well gasps, “Yuuri… That means… Your Mystery Man…”

“Is Viktor Nikiforov,” Yuuri finishes.

“And that means…” Yuko continues.

Phichit finishes, “You're probably the person he’s in love with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO there it is. From the comments I received most people picked up on the sandalwood cologne so I wanted to include it, but I had always planned on it revolving around the rumours so I hope it worked?  
> This chapter is named after Frank and Nancy Sinatra's Something Stupid which I think fits perfectly as Yuuri thinks he does something stupid in this chapter.  
> I'm going to try my hardest to get the next one out as fast as possible but you know me, as fast as possible also means as stupidly slow as possible. If I take too long feel free to harrass me on tumblr @fandompowerpoints until I get my act together and get you the final chapter.


	8. Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch (You Know That I Love You)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s it,” Yuuri sighs, sitting upright, “I’ve got to tell him.”
> 
> “Finally,” Phichit says the same time as Yuuko says, “Oh my god!”
> 
> They’ve been waiting exactly an hour, five minutes and thirty-three seconds for him to come to that conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Shows up 500 years later with Starbucks* What'd I miss?
> 
> I am so sorry this took so long to come out. I kept on telling myself to finish it and then I'd forget. BUT HERE I AM NOW!!!! WOOOO!!!!!
> 
> Anywho, I'd like to thank you guys for the overwhelming support, thank you for giving me such lovely comments, y'all honestly inspired me to finish this fic. So don't thank me thank yourselves. It has taken far too long for this chapter to come out and I am sorry, especially leaving you hanging like that.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and feel free to scream at me for anything.

“That’s it,” Yuuri sighs, sitting upright, “I’ve got to tell him.”

“Finally,” Phichit says the same time as Yuuko says, “Oh my god!”

They’ve been waiting exactly an hour, five minutes and thirty-three seconds for him to come to that conclusion.

After his realisation, Yuuri had been too stressed to do anything with it. He’d taken his time pacing throughout his room, going over whether or not Viktor actually _was_ his Mystery Man. He went through every possible piece of evidence and had once again discovered that Viktor was, in fact, his Mystery Man. After that, he needed comfort food, so he left Phichit and Yuuko- who’d long since known they were in this conundrum for the long haul and brought some assignments and their phones to entertain themselves- as he went to the nearest 7-Eleven to buy a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, a packet of Pringles and finally a pack of gum. He settled down in his spinny chair and ate each snack one by one, he finally reached the appropriate conclusion midway through his packet of Pringles.

“But what do I say? Like, ‘hey do you remember making out with some weirdo at a party one time, well that was me! Surprise! Wanna make out again?’” Yuuri babbles.

Yuuko scoots closer to him, “Maybe not that. How about… Hey, Viktor, I don’t know if you remember but…? And then tell him about the party, then ask him out. Simple”

“What if he doesn’t remember the party? I mean what if I’m not memorable?”

“Yuuri!” Phichit gasps. “How could you _not_ be memorable? I mean, even if he didn’t say he ‘felt a spark’ when you two made out, you sure left a mark just being you,” Yuuri rolls his eyes at him. “Look, if he doesn’t remember, you ask him out and he says ‘no’, then he’s not worth it.”

Yuuko passes Yuuri his phone, “But first, let’s see if he is worth it.”

They hug him for support as he lets out a deep breath. _It’s okay,_ Yuuri thinks, _he’ll like you. He’ll remember. He’ll have felt the spark._

***

Victor lays in his bead and groans in a self-pitying tone for what must be the billionth time. “Oh my god! Just tell him already!” he hears his friend shout from the other side of the room. Viktor just rolls over and groans once more.

He’d been like this for longer than he’s willing to admit. After Yuuri didn’t pick up for the second, or third, or fourth time he’d called, he knew he’d messed up; like, _really messed up_. Viktor can count the times he’s messed up this bad on one hand, yet none seem to have gone as bad as this. He keeps thinking _if only I’d kissed him back_.

See, Viktor is head over heels for the one and only Yuuri Katsuki, his Skating Buddy. Why then, did he not return a kiss that he had desperately desired for so long? Viktor has been tossing and turning only to find the one thing that stopped him from kissing back when Yuuri kissed on his lips in the skating rink was guilt.

Viktor was guilty that after everything he’d done; the posters, receiving relentless calls from the posters and making a detective’s board of potential suspects- he gave up. He gave up on the guy he swore he’d find, the guy he knew he was destined to be with, the guy who he knew was also trying to find him; because those kisses weren’t _just_ kisses… they weren’t just sloppy make-outs… they were fluttering, warm, magical kisses that made him _feel_ something- something deep in his core that he knew he’d been ignoring for years: the potential for love.

But after a few days, he gave up, like it was nothing. All because a beautiful, bespectacled, Japanese man made him feel the same way as the man he’d kissed and Viktor hadn’t even kissed him yet.

He groans once more, “I’m such an idiot.”

“And for the 426th time,” his friend Yuri began, “I agree.”

“Yuri…” Viktor begins but lets out a whine. “You should leave,” Viktor groans, waving an arm in an attempt of shooing him. “I can’t think of you or your name without thinking of _him._ ”

“Oh my fucking god,” Yuri growls, standing up and making his way to Viktor’s phone, “Just call him already!”

“I tried but he isn’t picking up.”

Viktor was met with silence.

“I can’t even,” Yuri spoke, dropping Viktor’s phone by his bed as he walks out of the door.

Viktor watches him leave with a frown before looking at his phone, _what had made Yuri leave like that?_

A text from Yuuri, received fifteen minutes ago.

_Can we talk? Maybe you come over to mine?_

Viktor, almost not believing his luck looks up at the mirror to see if his face is a total mess. It is, but somehow not as bad as Viktor had pictured.

_How soon do you want me?_ Viktor replies, already running to put on his shoes. Even if Yuuri doesn’t want to talk to him immediately, he had to run around the block or do something with the nervous energy he’s very suddenly developed. He has to think of what to say… Apologise first? _Sorry I didn’t kiss you back… I like you and I want to date you but at the same time, I’m pining over someone whose face I’ve never seen._

He shakes his head and pulls on his coat as a buzz sounds from his phone on the bed.

_Can you come right now?_

He simply replies, _I’m on my way._

***

Viktor arrives in a couple minutes, having almost broken the speed limit a few times, he grimly looks at his reflection and idly attempts to fix his hair- not that it would do much difference. He attempted to come up with something to say to Yuuri on his way here but everything he ended up with was either an excuse of an apology or a random topic of conversation as a method of getting out if he needs to.

He runs a hand through his hair and turns off the engine, sighing heavily. He hats this, how awkward things are between them… how he has to _think_ about what to say; he likes how relaxed and calm Yuuri made things, he always felt so peaceful around him and he felt he could be himself because Yuuri just had… something which made everything okay. He wonders if Yuuri could make this okay… this fuck-up that has caused this rift between them, this uncertain awkwardness he wishes he’d never created. He takes a breath and opens the door all while thinking, _I’m sorry Yuuri and I know that’s not enough._

When Yuuri answers the door he seems nervous, and somehow… calculating. As if he’s not sure if Viktor is actually Viktor but some evil clone. Viktor follows him in and Yuuri gestures that he sit on the bed as he takes the chair by the desk.

Viktor can’t help himself as he remembers all the times he’s been in that room in the same spots they’re in now when Viktor didn’t want to leave Yuuri’s calm company.

“Yuuri I’m sorry,” Viktor begins as Yuuri asks, “Who are you in love with?”

What the other says seems to catch them by surprise. Yuuri’s brown eyes are wide behind his glasses and Viktor now sits up straight. “What?” Viktor eventually utters, breaking the silence.

“I…” Yuuri gulps, “I think I might know who it is…”

Viktor scoffs. “I’ve been pining after him for too long,” He moves to the edge of the bed so he can reach out for Yuuri’s hands. “Yuuri I’m here to talk to you about you so could we please-“

“Viktor,” Yuuri interrupts, moving away from him, “please. I-I need to know.”

Viktor sighs once again. “I’m going to sound ridiculous.”

But Yuuri’s looking at him with wide eyes filled with patience.

“Okay,” Viktor breathes. “I was at a party… I think it was Phichit’s; the big one from a month or two ago. Anyway, I was there and I was just about to leave when out of nowhere-“

“Phichit appeared and dragged you into a closet,” Yuuri finishes.

Viktor stares wide-eyed at him. “How did you know that?” Viktor feels a spark of hope deep in his chest, _there are only a few ways he could know that… Could he be?_

“Because,” Yuuri leans forward, “I was at that party, talking to Phichit and,” Yuuri chuckles at the memory, Viktor’s heart thuds loudly, “he was beyond drunk at this stage. So, he asked me if ‘the rumours were true’ and after answering, ‘yes’ he took me into the closet and left me. He came back a couple minutes later with another guy and left us in there. Some… things happened and before I could tell him my name or that I wanted to see him again, he-“

“You… it was you,” Viktor places a hand on Yuuri’s face and rubs his cheek with his thumb. He wants to take in every feature of his face that he hadn’t-couldn’t- in that closet; every crinkle of his smile, every furrow, every mark, every different shade of brown in his hair.

“Yes, and it was you,” Yuuri smiles, leaning into his touch and bringing a hand up to caress Viktor’s, “My Mystery Man.”

“I can’t believe this…” Viktor murmurs in disbelief. “I didn’t kiss you because I felt guilty about leaving the search for you behind.”

Yuuri laughs, “The same happened to me a few times.”

Viktor’s brows furrow, “Why didn’t you call me…? When I put the posters up.”

“I did,” Yuuri looks away, “But you didn’t answer.”

Viktor lifts up Yuuri’s chin with his fingers. “Then again, I’m not sure if I believe you. How could I _really_ know if you were the guy I kissed that night?” Viktor asks, smirking; his hand still cradling Yuuri’s cheek.

Yuuri looks at him with a mix of shock and disbelief, “How else would I know about it?”

Ignoring his last comment, Viktor states, “To be honest, I think there’s only one method of figuring this out.”

Yuuri looks at him quizzically as he leans forward and kisses Yuuri, cradling his face in his hands. Yuuri is at a loss for what to do with his hands but brings them to Viktor’s waist as he returns the kiss. It was slow and simple, it was like they were taking in each other’s kiss like Viktor had with Yuuri’s face, attempting to memorise and notice every part and feature. They broke apart for breath but quickly, Yuuri returned his lips to Viktor’s. And similar to their last kisses, the second became more heated, so much so, Yuuri moved from his seat and pushed Viktor against the wall, straddling his hips and running his hands through his hair. Viktor’s hands trailed down Yuuri’s body to grip his hips.

“This,” Viktor moaned in between kisses, “This is what I was looking for.” It’s similar to their kisses at Phichit’s party but somehow, so much sweeter. Yuuri’s heart is thundering in his chest and he knows his face is bright red but it doesn’t matter, he just knows that he can’t get enough of him. His cologne is the same, Yuuri notes with a smile and his hair is still as soft. When Viktor feels Yuuri’s tongue he lets out a soft moan that makes Yuuri kiss him harder.

When they break apart for air once again, Viktor begins kissing along Yuuri’s jaw and down his throat and Yuuri feels like he could fly.

And as they melted into each other’s lips, tongues and hands they can’t help but feel finally at peace for they had finally found their Mystery Man.

***

No one in their group is truly surprised when Viktor and Yuuri meet them at the cafeteria with reddened lips, two (visible) hickeys each and intertwined hands. When they sit down with overjoyed smiles a loud murmur of, “About time” rises from the group.

They settle down next to each other to find Phichit excitedly gesturing as he explains his future best man’s speech, one hand unavailable as it’s linked with Seung-Gil, who stares unabashedly at his boyfriend’s excited jabbering with a large blush blooming on his cheeks. Chris, next to Phichit, laughs at him while also making his own future best man speech. Mila, opposite Chris and next to Sara, is talking about something that Yuuri can’t hear over Yurio complaints about how irritating Viktor was until he saw Yuuri’s text while Otabek, next to him, tries to calm him down.

Yuuri doesn’t immediately see Yuuko but after a quick scan of the cafeteria, sees her with Nishigori and he waves with his free hand, she replies with an overenthusiastic thumbs up.

When he turns his attention back to Viktor, they lean in for a quick kiss in front of their friends only to hear Yurio utter a, “Ugh. Yuck.”

They both laugh and Yuuri thinks that he wouldn’t mind things being as they are forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was named after The Four Tops's 'Sugar Pie Honey Bunch' which is honestly an amazing song, if you haven't heard it, do yourself a favour and check it out.
> 
> So it seems we've reached the end of this story (lol about a year later) and I just wanted to thank you for joining me and being such a wonderful group of readers, I love you guys so much.
> 
> my tumblr username is fandompowerpoints so if you want to scream at me or with about YOI, you know where to find me. Also, I heard some of y'all found this through fic recs, if you could send those through too I'd be so greatful.
> 
> It's always sad to say goodbye but here we are, it may be a little while before I post anymore YOI fics but if you have requests/ prompts please send them through. 
> 
> Once again, thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed whatever this mess was.  
> The chapter title: You Don't Know Me is in reference to the Ray Charles song for no particular reason (and no I didn't get it from 'like your french girls', I don't know what you're talking about).
> 
> So thank you for reading! Hopefully, I should be able to get the next chapter up soon.


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